Finally a flower

[cyansky]

Good day all. I have been waiting for over a year for this guy to flower and it finally did last month. I have been puzzling over an ID and have always suspected it belongs in the Copiapoa family. The only problem is that almost all copiapoas have yellow flowers. I was somewhat surprised when this guy presented a red/burgundy colour. Can anyone help me ID this specimen? The plant is approximately the size of an American baseball. Thank you. Andrew

[DaveW]

It's not a Copiapoa, their flowers arise nearer the crown anyway. It would be included in Fred Kattermann's Eriosyce. It's probably a red flowered form of E. curvispina or E. tuberisulcata, though the latter has straighter awl shaped spines. The spination is strong enough to even be a true Argentinian Pyrrhocactus, but I would have thought the flower tube would be woolier/bristlier than yours if it was.

http://forum.bcss.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=159344

[williamsii823]

Nice!

[cyansky]

Thank you for the response Dave. Upon further investigation, it sure looks like my plant is very close to a Eriosyce curvispina robusta. (var. cabildoense?) Cheers.

[DaveW]

Not sure where they get the "cabildoense" from, it's probably just a nomen nudum (unpublished name). No doubt their plant came from Cabildo near Petorca in Chile.