Melocactus matanzanus 10.5cm

-18%

Melocactus matanzanus León - Μελόκακτος

Οικογένεια: Cactaceae

Διάμετρος γλάστρας:10.5εκ., Ύψος:12-15εκ.

English

The name of this plant derives from the place of its origin (province of Matanzas, in the northern part of Cuba).

It is perhaps the best known and the most cultivated Melocactus.

It has a globular body, depressed at the apex, deeply furrowed ribs, barely noticeable areoles and robust spines, slightly curved towards the plant. It has a characteristic light green color and grayish-brown, not very dark spines.

At a certain age of the plant, when the cactus stops growing, a whitish spherical cephalium develops at the apex of the plant, formed by red bristles, from which small flowers with thin pink or carmine red petals bloom, but quite often they do not fully emerge from the cephalium.

This Melocactus is particularly appreciated for its characteristic showy cephalium, thus it is often called the "Turkish cap".

Care

It likes an exposure to full sun in rather airy locations. Fare attenzione a bruschi sbalzi di Temperature.
It is preferable to keep it at mild temperatures and never below 10 °C, for this reason it is recommended to shelter it during the winter period.
In spring-summer, water moderately but only when the soil is completely dry, and suspend watering completely during autumn-winter.
A well-draining and porous soil is an optimal solution, even better if further enriched with 70% of inert materials such as pumice, sand or lapilli.
They do not need frequent fertilization, it is sufficient to dilute the fertilizer with watering once a year.