Help with an ID

[Billisarius]

Hi all,

I received a small cactus as a gift a few years ago, and I would love to know what species it is. My interest was recently peeked because I found what I am 99% certain was a cluster of mature cacti of the same species at a botanical garden, but unfortunately it wasn't labeled and none of the staff knew what it was. I know my cactus was originally purchased in a gift shop, so I suspect it is fairly common (unfortunately not on the Top 10 list though). Mine is roughly 6" tall; the mature plants grew up to around 3'. The shape is similar to a young Saguaro, but the spines are small, soft, and golden. There are roughly a dozen per cluster, with a slightly larger one in the center. The ridges with the spines are continuous for the whole height of the plant, and run vertically. Unfortunately, mine has not yet flowered, so I can't give any details on that front. Any help is appreciated!

My plant, sitting in the window.

My plant

20140911_182236.jpg (41.75 KiB) Viewed 1119 times

Top view

20140912_183022.jpg (65.23 KiB) Viewed 1119 times

Mature plants (foreground) of what appears to be the same species.

Mature plants

20140830_175510.jpg (76.28 KiB) Viewed 1119 times

[Minime8484]

I'm not sure that your plant is the same species, but the in-ground plants in your photo are Neobuxbaumia polylopha.

[Rod Smith]

Your plant is a Notocactus leninghausii, known these days as Parodia leninghausii. It is a different species from the one in the botanical garden.

[DaveW]

They will often start to flower around that size. An inclined angle on the crown towards the light is normal for that species, so only turn it on a windowsill if the stem itself is leaning excessively towards the light, but preferably in that case give it a lighter place since turning plants from their natural orientation to the light can often inhibit flowering since nobody keeps turning them in habitat.

http://violapinnata.blogspot.co.uk/2012 ... ge-jr.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Always seems strange that though the crown is angled the stem still keeps growing straight up!

[Billisarius]

Thank you all! I'm glad my mix-up with the in-ground plant didn't throw things off, since I was apparently wrong about that. I'll take the advice about rotating it to heart; I had been doing that regularly to keep the stem vertical, but I will definitely dial back on that. I noticed in several of the photos that it appears in clusters - is this species one that will grow multiple stems if it has room?

[DaveW]

Needs to usually be about 6-8 inches high before it produces offsets at the base.

Some pictures of it in habitat, often growing on vertical cliffs (click lower pictures for slide show)

http://www.cactusinhabitat.org/index.ph ... cie&id=149" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[CactusJordi]

A little more light would help growing it more compact and with longer spines.

Jordi