€7,95

🌱 Morphology
It looks like a small snowball that has been trapped in the middle of the Mexican desert. Its green body is barely visible beneath an authentic cloud of fine, crisscrossed white spines, creating a surface so uniform that at first glance it is hard to even recognize it as a cactus. As it grows, it can go from a solitary specimen to forming small colonies of white spheres, like a handful of snowballs on a rock.

The body is globose and depressed at the apex, although it can become more elongated with age, reaching approximately 15 cm in diameter and up to 30 cm in height. The tubercles are arranged in very regular spirals and their axils have small white bristles. Each areola produces numerous fine and slightly flexible white radial spines, which can exceed 40 per areola, accompanied by several straight central spines, white with pink or brown tones at the tip. The result is one of the whitest and most delicate spine coverings in the genus.

🌍 Distribution, habitat and family
It is native to northeastern and north-central Mexico, with documented presence in Coahuila, Nuevo León, San Luis Potosí, Tamaulipas, Zacatecas, and Guanajuato. It inhabits xerophytic scrublands and rocky areas, especially on limestone, between approximately 500 and 2500 m altitude. It belongs to the Cactaceae family.

❄️ Temperature — USDA Zone 9a–11b
It tolerates minimum temperatures of up to −5 ºC if it remains completely dry and is well acclimated. There are references that indicate occasional higher resistance, but −5 ºC is a prudent cultivation benchmark.

☀️ Lighting
During active growth, it needs intense lighting, with an approximate goal of 18–25 mol/m²/day of DLI PAR. Progressive exposure to direct sun promotes compact growth and helps maintain the characteristic white cover of spines.

💧 Growth cycle and watering
Winter rest.
During the active period, abundant watering is recommended, letting the substrate dry out completely before watering again. It is especially sensitive to excess moisture in the roots, so drainage must be excellent. In winter, it should be kept practically dry.

🌸 Flowering
The flowers appear forming a crown around the apex and can be white, greenish-white, or pink, depending on the population and the specimen. They reach approximately 2–3.5 cm and contrast delicately with the white surface of the cactus. In Madrid, they can be expected mainly between March and May. The fruits are pink to reddish and appear subsequently between the tubercles.

🌿 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 technical square pot and with the substrate activated with mycorrhizal fungi

📏 The sizes of our basic collection xerophytes are as follows:

S -> 9cm x 9cm

M-> 14cm x 14 cm

L->16cm x 16 cm

* 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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