Gymnocalycium quehlianum | Sierras Sphere. Hump cactus
€10,60
🌱 Morphology
Small, slow-growing, generally solitary cactus with a globose-depressed body, partially buried, with a grayish-green epidermis that can take on brownish, purplish, or reddish tones in strong light. It reaches approximately 4–6 cm in height and 10–15 cm in diameter. It features about 11–14 low ribs, divided into rounded tubercles provided with a characteristic hump or "chin" projecting downward. The areoles, initially woolly, carry 5–7 fine, short, and appressed radial spines, generally arched, with white, brownish, or reddish tones; it lacks central spines. It develops a robust napiform root.
🌍 Distribution, habitat, and family
Endemic to the Sierras de Córdoba, Argentina, where it extends from the Sierras Chicas to the Sierras del Norte, approximately between 500 and 1200 m, although populations exist up to about 1500 m. It lives in mountain environments, on sandy, clayey, or stony soils, among grasses, shrubs, and small trees, as well as rocky outcrops. It belongs to the family Cactaceae, subfamily Cactoideae, subgenus Trichomosemineum.
❄️ Temperature · USDA Zone 8b
It tolerates minimum temperatures of up to −8 ºC when dry and with well-acclimated specimens. In cultivation, it is especially resistant when it remains completely dry during cold spells.
☀️ Lighting
It needs plenty of light to maintain a compact epidermis and characteristic spination. Direct sun or very intense light is recommended, with progressive adaptation. During active growth, a DLI PAR of 15–25 mol·m⁻²·day⁻¹ is appropriate; in very hot summers, it may appreciate some protection during midday hours.
💧 Growth cycle and watering
Winter dormancy. It is kept practically dry during the winter. With rising temperatures, watering is resumed progressively, preferably deep and spaced out, allowing the substrate to dry completely between applications. In its habitat, rainfall is concentrated in the warm months, so it withstands dry cold better than the combination of low temperatures and humidity.
🌸 Flowering
The flowers appear near the apex, they are white, up to about 6 cm, with a reddish throat. In the populations studied in Córdoba, flowering begins relatively early in the season and can continue for a good part of it: an early peak and continuous flowering toward the middle of the season have been observed, with an average duration of about 36 days. It is, therefore, more appropriate to speak of prolonged flowering and successive flowers rather than reblooming in clearly separated pulses.
No reliable and generalizable age has been located to establish the first flowering in cultivation.
🌿 Nutrition
During the active growth period, a fertilizer with a high content of assimilable calcium and low nitrogen levels, such as Desert CHOICE® Cactaceae, 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 technological square pot and with the substrate activated with mycorrhizal fungi and biofungicides.
9x9 cm pot
* As this is an online purchase, the appearance of the specimen sent 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 Desert CITY plants has unique characteristics.
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