€47,70

🌱 Morphology
A horticultural selection of a particularly unique Hibotan-Nishiki. It forms a globose-flattened, green body with marked ribs and areoles equipped with small brown spines. Its exceptional feature is the longitudinal distribution of the variegation: instead of the irregular mosaic of spots, sectors, and patches typical of many Nishiki, the tissue with lower chlorophyll content is concentrated along the ribs, forming continuous and relatively uniform vertical stripes of intense red that fade into yellow. The result is reminiscent of butterfly wings spread over the body of the cactus. The intensity of the red may vary with lighting and season.

🧬 A very unusual variegation
‘Colorful Butterfly’ belongs to the broad Hibotan-Nishiki horticultural group, characterized by a partial reduction of chlorophyll. In these plants, tissues with less chlorophyll allow pigments such as betalains and anthocyanins—responsible for red, pink, orange, or purplish hues—to become visible. In this clone, the peculiarity is not just the color, but its longitudinal pattern associated with the ribs.

🌍 Distribution, habitat, and family
The reference species comes from the dry Chaco of Bolivia and Paraguay, in subtropical environments. ‘Colorful Butterfly’ is, however, an exclusively horticultural selection, not a form found in nature. The historical name Gymnocalycium mihanovichii var. friedrichii has subsequently been treated as a synonym of G. stenopleurum by POWO.
Family Cactaceae · Subfamily Cactoideae · Tribe Cereeae · Genus Gymnocalycium · Species Gymnocalycium stenopleurum F.Ritter · Variety var. friedrichii · Cultivar ‘Colorful Butterfly’.

❄️ Temperature · USDA Zone 9b
Tolerates minimum temperatures down to −4 ºC, for short periods and with the substrate completely dry. For highly variegated specimens, greater caution against cold and humidity is recommended.

☀️ Lighting
We recommend bright partial shade, with progressive adaptation to solar radiation. An approximate DLI PAR of 15–25 mol·m⁻²·day⁻¹ promotes compact growth and helps intensify chromatic expression without the risk of burns.

💧 Growth cycle and watering
Winter rest. During active growth, it is recommended to water abundantly and allow the substrate to dry completely before the next watering. From autumn, inputs are progressively reduced until it is kept practically dry during the winter.

🌸 Flowering
Produces white to pink flowers, generally from late spring to summer. No reliable information has been found to establish an exact age of first flowering specific to this clone.

🌿 Nutrition
During active growth, Desert CHOICE® Cactáceas NPK (Ca-Mg) 4-4-7 (4-4) is recommended once a month along with watering. Assimilable calcium promotes the formation of firm tissues and the maintenance of turgidity, while magnesium participates in chlorophyll synthesis. Before flowering, it can be supplemented with Desert CHOICE® Floración.

🪴 Pot
8x8 cm gourmet black pot

This is an inimitable xerophyte grown in Madrid in a high-tech square pot, with substrate activated with mycorrhizal fungi and biofungicides.

* As this is an online purchase, the appearance of the sent specimen may vary slightly from the product image. The measurements of the plant are specified in the photo description, but this may also vary slightly because it is a living being! Each of the plants from Desert CITY has unique characteristics.

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