€10,60

Gymnocalycium stellatum var. paucispinum (Backeb.) R.Strong 

🌱 Morphology
A small Gymnocalycium with an extremely flattened body, generally solitary and barely raised above the ground. The epidermis is greenish-gray, dark gray to olive-brown, and the body can reach approximately 7.5–10 cm in diameter. It features 7–11 very flat and rounded ribs, with shallow transverse grooves and discrete areoles. Its most striking feature is its extraordinarily reduced spination: normally only 3 spines per areole, dark, rigid, and appressed to the body, arranged roughly in a Y-shape. With age, they may become grayish.

🌍 Distribution, habitat, and family
It is related to populations in Argentina, mainly from Catamarca, La Rioja, and Córdoba, in dry environments of the Monte region and transition zones with the Chaco. It lives on sandy terrain, at the base of hills, and among xerophytic vegetation, at approximately 200 to 1,000 m according to the populations attributed to this complex. It belongs to the family Cactaceae, subfamily Cactoideae, tribe Trichocereeae. The name Gymnocalycium stellatum var. paucispinum is currently treated as a synonym for Gymnocalycium bodenbenderianum; Gymnocalycium paucispinum has also been used.

❄️ Temperature · USDA Zone 8a
It tolerates minimum temperatures of down to −10 ºC when kept dry and with well-acclimatized specimens. Its cold resistance is remarkable, but it must be kept completely dry during frost.

☀️ Lighting
It appreciates plenty of light, but in warmer locations, it can be grown in bright partial shade during the hours of most intense radiation. A DLI PAR of approximately 20–30 mol·m⁻²·day⁻¹ is recommended, increasing solar exposure progressively. Balanced lighting helps preserve its dark epidermis and its extremely flat habit.

💧 Growth cycle and watering
Winter rest. During winter, it must remain completely dry. In spring and summer, watering is resumed, preferably abundant but spaced out, letting the substrate dry out completely before watering again. At the end of summer, watering is gradually reduced to prepare for the dormant period.

🌸 Flowering
The flowers are white or creamy white, with a reddish or wine-red throat, up to about 6 cm in length. They appear mainly between May and September and several successive flowers may be produced during the same season, which is why it features prolonged and potentially reblooming flowering. No specific age for the first flowering has been sufficiently documented; in cultivation, it can flower while still small.

🌿 Nutrition
During active growth, Desert CHOICE® Cactaceae NPK (Ca-Mg) 4-4-7 (4-4) is recommended. Assimilable calcium promotes the formation of firm tissues and the maintenance of turgidity, while magnesium participates in chlorophyll synthesis.

This is an inimitable xerophyte grown in Madrid in a technical square pot with the substrate activated with mycorrhizal fungi and biofungicides.

9x9 cm pot

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