Frailea castanea | La Pampa chestnut Frailea
€37,10
Frailea castanea Backeb.
🌱 Morphology
Tiny cactus, generally solitary, with a flattened-globose body, partially sunken into the soil and deeply depressed at the apex. It can reach approximately 4 cm in height and 3–4.5 cm in diameter. The epidermis shows grayish-green, reddish, or characteristically chestnut-chocolate tones. It develops a tuberous, conical root. The 8–14 ribs are low, straight, and poorly defined, without being divided into tubercles. The small areoles produce 3–11 very short spines, initially reddish and later dark, generally appressed to the body.
🌍 Distribution, habitat, and family
It is distributed throughout southern Brazil, northern Uruguay, and northeastern Argentina, mainly in stony fields and rocky outcrops of the pampas and subtropical grasslands, at approximately 150 to 300 m altitude. It belongs to the Cactaceae family, Cactoideae subfamily, Cereeae tribe.
❄️ Temperature · USDA Zone 9b
It tolerates minimum temperatures of down to −4 ºC when dry and well acclimated. Due to its small size and tuberous root, extreme caution with humidity is advised when temperatures are low.
☀️ Lighting
It requires very intense light, with several hours of direct sun once acclimated. As a target guideline during active growth, a DLI PAR of 20–30 mol·m⁻²·day⁻¹ is recommended.
💧 Growth cycle and watering
Winter rest. During the active period, it is recommended to water thoroughly and allow the substrate to dry completely before the next watering. In winter, it must remain dry and with good ventilation.
🌸 Flowering
It produces yellow flowers, large in proportion to the tiny body, which emerge near the apex. As in other Frailea, it can reproduce via cleistogamous flowers, capable of self-pollinating without opening; occasionally, the flowers open completely under favorable light and temperature conditions.
🌿 Nutrition
During the active growth period, a fertilizer with a high content of assimilable calcium and low nitrogen levels, such as Desert CHOICE® Cacti, is recommended, applied once a month when watering. Before flowering, it can be supplemented with Desert CHOICE® Flowering.
This is an inimitable xerophyte grown in Madrid in a high-tech square pot and with the substrate activated with mycorrhizal fungi and biofungicides.
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