€21,20

Notocactus fuscus F.Ritter

🌱 Morphology
     Another Brazilian... A solitary, occasionally clumping cactus with a globose body that can become short-cylindrical with age, dark green in color with a depressed apex. It reaches approximately 10–16 cm in height and up to 10 cm in diameter. It features 18–26 vertical or slightly spiraled ribs that are gently tuberculate. The areoles, densely woolly when young, develop 12–19 fine radial spines that are yellowish to whitish-gray, and generally 4 more robust central spines arranged in a cross, which are dark red, reddish-violet, or brown, becoming grayer with age.

🌍 Distribution, habitat, and family
Endemic to Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, where it grows in the Pampa biome on sandstone outcrops and rock plates amidst open grasslands, generally at low altitude. Natural populations are small and fragmented. It belongs to the Cactaceae family, Cactoideae subfamily, and Notocacteae tribe.

❄️ Temperature · USDA Zone 9b
It tolerates minimum temperatures down to −4 ºC in dry conditions and with well-acclimatized specimens. It must be kept dry during winter, specifically avoiding the combination of low temperatures and persistent humidity.

☀️ Lighting
It requires intense light to maintain a compact body and to develop the characteristic dark coloration of its spines. Direct sun is recommended after progressive acclimatization. As a general target during active growth, a PAR DLI of 20–30 mol·m⁻²·day⁻¹ is recommended.

💧 Growth cycle and watering
Winter dormancy. During the cold months, watering is reduced until the substrate is kept practically dry. In spring, it is gradually resumed, and during active growth, it can be watered abundantly, allowing the substrate to dry out completely between waterings. In its habitat, it withstands dry periods, but it has seasonal moisture during the warm season.

🌸 Flowering
It produces numerous diurnal, brilliant flowers approximately 3 cm in diameter, ranging from intense yellow to pale yellow. The center features yellow stamens and a characteristic dark purple stigma, creating an extraordinary contrast with the corolla. Flowering occurs mainly from spring to summer. The fruits are initially olive green and acquire reddish tones upon ripening.

🌿 Nutrition
During the active growth period, a fertilizer with high assimilable calcium content and low nitrogen levels, such as Desert CHOICE® Cactaceae, is recommended, applied once a month during watering. Before flowering, it can be supplemented with Desert CHOICE® Flowering.

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

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