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Melocactus longispinus Live Cactus in 6 Inch

Melocactus longispinus Live Cactus in 6 Inch

Regular price $21.00 USD
Regular price Sale price $21.00 USD
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AKA Melocactus ernestii
Origin and Habitat: Bahia and Minas Gerais, Brazil.
Altitude: 200-1100 metres above sea level.
Habitat: It grows in crevices in places dominated by gneiss/granite inselbergs and on rocky outcrop among low xerophytic vegetation.
Description: Melocactus ernestii is one of the larger Melocactus and one of the longest spined species of the genus, it is also a very variable species in size colour and form of the spines. Mature plants are easily recognizable by their cephalium, that have a covering of wool and bristles, while the immature plant looks like a smallish barrel cactus, and there is nothing in its appearance that would suggest a Melocactus. Plants of this genus attract more attention in collections than those of any other cactus genera.
Habit: It is a solitary perennial stem succulent with determinate growth in which the axis does not continue to elongate indefinitely being limited by the development of the flower bearing cephalium.
Stem: Spherical to depressed conical to ellipsoid to short cylindrical, distinctly mucilaginous, light yellowish green to dark green, (8-)9-25(-45) cm high, (7-)12-22(-25) cm in diameter. When the plant has reached a certain age it shows at the growing tip a cephalium (the structure, where the flower buds will form.
Ribs: 9-13, more or less rounded but sometimes sharp-edged.
Cephalium: Cap-like, globose to shortly cylindrical, (hence the common name of "Turk's Cap") to 2-18 cm high and 4-8 cm in diameter, covered by tightly peaked areoles that bear wool and pinkish-red bristles, the tips sometimes covered with white wool.
Areoles:Somewhat rounded to obtuse with, 1-2 cm apart,m a little white wool nearer the centre of a juvenile plants.
Spines: with red and yellow bands or reddish or brownish, becoming grey or black with age on old mature specimens.
Radial spines: 6-13, slender, straight or curved outward, 4-15 cm long. The lowermost the longer.
Central spine: 3-8, lowermost curved or straight, 3,2-9 cm long
Flowers: Small, light to dark pinkish magenta, 17-30 mm long, 7-18 mm in diameter, similar in form to Mammillaria flowers. They do not emerge fully from the cephalium.
Blooming season: The flowers arise annually in mid summer from the cephalium in a ring. The flowers are diurnal and opens for a few hours at about lunchtime. It starts flowering in 6-10 years.
Fruits: Clavate berry, often somewhat flattened, especially near the tip, variable in size 1,5 to 4,5 cm long, 6-10 mm in diameter, deep pink to crimson-red. Ripened fruits are present apically on the cephalium.
Seeds: 1-1,3 mm long, 0,8-1 mm broad slightly tuberculatate.

This is for one plant growing in a 6" inch container shipped bare root. All of our plants are grown in the beautiful Temecula Valley in sunny Southern California, and we ship within the United States. Shipping is done Monday thru Friday.

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