Xerophyte

Central Spines

Absent.

Seeds

Brown, smooth.

Description

Frailea grahliana is a common tiny and heavily clumping species that in cultivation can easily fill a 15 cm pot. It grows quickly.

Roots

Fleshy yellowish.

Note

This specie is known from a very long time and is generally included within (as a synonym of) Frailea schilinzkyanaSN|2188]]SN|3634]] . In habitat the plants are highly variable and there are intermediate forms with Frailea pumilaSN|3634]]SN|2188]] and Frailea friederichii and some botanists consider all the different plants of this polymorphic group as F. pumila.

Flowers

Pale to bright yellow, up to 4 cm long. Fraileas are cleistogamous meaning that their flowers produce seed without even opening. Without the need for pollination, hence the buds rarely reach full bloom and remain closed. They will open only in great heat in the hottest, brightest, afternoon sun, if at all.

Ribs

About 13 to 15 low and indistinct.

Stem

Dull-green, brownish-green to dark purple-green, top-shaped, depressed-globose, 3-4 cm in diameter and clumping around the base.

Radial Spines

8 to 11 yellowish, subulate, flattened on the surface, appressed and curved backward, 3-5 mm long.

Fruits

6 mm in diameter, dry indehiscent with scales and bristles that detach easily, pericarp membranous, fragile that break easily releasing the seed. This species sets fruits without opening the flowers (cleistogamy)