| Place of origin:
North of Chile, province of Antofagasta.
Description: The plant, which send offsets
from its base, is spherical when young, but with time it becomes
columnar, reaching in the wild up to 1 m. high.
The stem has approximately 20 ribs divided by deep wide and
depressed cross sections, that are arranged between tubercles.
The areolas are woolly and slightly depressed.
Apex shows white wool in abundance and wider tubercles in
the young units.
The number of spines is variable, there could be only 1 or
7 radial spines and 1 or 2 centrals. They are black.
The flowers are approximately 3 cm. wide. They are red, yellow
or orange.
There is a variety called columna-alba, with columnar, solitaire
stem of about 75 cm. high, and with grayish brown spines,
when the plant is young, and black when it grows older. This
variety has the gray or yellow wool on apex.
Growing tips: Propagation by seeds. |
