Xerophyte

Central Spines

In some plants one central spine appears, but is usually absent. It is erect, 1,5-2 cm long.

Description

Discocactus placentiformisSN|1430]]SN|1430]] is a small flattish globular cactus from Brazil that flowers on warm summer nights. It is one of the most widely distributed and variable species with several unnecessary subspecies described.

Cephalium

3,5 cm tall, 4-6 cm in diameter, with cream-white, greyish-white or greyish-brown wool and black bristles 1,5-2,5 cm long.

Flowers

Nocturnal lasting only a single night, and rapidly collapsing into mush the next morning, extremely fragrant, slender funnelform, up to to 7,5 cm long, white arising from the cephalium.

Blooming Season

Summer, it needs a good exposure to with some sun to bloom , so it's pretty rare to have blossoms when in cultivation in greenhouses. It is not unusual for this Melocactus to take 7 or more years before it starts blooming, but once it does, it should every year.

Ribs

mostly 10-16 low to acute up to 1,5 cm high, not or only slightly tuberculate, distinctly enlarged at the areoles and without acute sinuses between adjacent areoles on the same rib.

Stem

Low, flattened-globular, less than 10 cm tall (without cephalium about 3,5-8 cm), (6)-12-14(-22) cm in diameter light, dark or bluish green, with woolly cephalium.

Radial Spines

3-5(-9) conspicuous, pale gray, reddish, brown or blackish with a darker tip , becoming grey with age, 1-3 cm long and up to 2 mm thick, often flattened, clawlike, slightly recurved backwards to the plant, lateral spines longer and pointing downwards.

Fruits

Club shaped white or cream sometime with a pink tip, up to 3 cm long and 0,8 cm in diameter containing a few black seeds.

Areoles

Round to oval 5-8 on each rib on plants with cephalium.