Oroya borchersii | Borchers' Oroya
€7,95
Oroya borchersii (Boed.) Backeb.
🌱 Morphology
Solitary cactus that can form small clusters, with a globose-flattened body that can become short-cylindrical with age, about 12–32 cm tall and 15–22 cm in diameter. It features numerous ribs, generally 12–30, with elongated brown-toned areoles. The spines, yellow, reddish, or reddish-brown, form a very characteristic lattice: 1–3 central and up to 25–30 thin radial spines, acicular or almost bristle-like, arranged in a comb-like pattern and up to 2–2.5 cm long. The overall appearance can obscure a good part of the green body.
🌍 Distribution, habitat, and family
Endemic to Áncash, in the Blanca and Negra mountain ranges of Peru, where it inhabits the high-Andean puna between approximately 3,900 and 4,300 m. It grows on rocky terrain and highly exposed slopes, among grasses, mosses, and reddish soils, enduring an extraordinary daily thermal range. It belongs to the Cactaceae family. Joël Lodé's taxonomy (2026) maintains Oroya borchersii as one of the three recognized species of the genus Oroya.
❄️ Temperature · USDA Zone 8b
Tolerates minimum temperatures down to −9 ºC when dry and with well-acclimated specimens. Its habitat demonstrates an exceptional adaptation to nocturnal cold, but in cultivation, it must be protected especially from the combination of cold and prolonged humidity.
☀️ Lighting
Requires very intense light and direct sun, especially during the growth period. To maintain a compact shape and dense spination, it is recommended to reach, as a reference, a DLI PAR of 20–30 mol·m⁻²·day⁻¹ during active growth.
💧 Growth cycle and watering
Winter dormancy. The dry and cold period should be maintained with practically no watering. With the rise in temperatures, growth begins and deep, spaced waterings can be carried out, allowing the substrate to dry completely before watering again. It is a high-mountain species that appreciates excellent root aeration and does not tolerate waterlogging well.
🌸 Flowering
Does not flower until 15-25 years of age. It produces small flowers, up to about 2 cm, yellow to yellowish-green, with a very short tube and curved inner segments. They appear in the upper part of the body and can develop to form a small crown. The fruits are yellowish-green, naked, and slightly club-shaped.
🌿 Nutrition
During the active growth period, a fertilizer with high assimilable calcium content and low nitrogen levels is recommended, such as Desert CHOICE® Cactáceas, applied once a month during watering. Before flowering, it can be supplemented with Desert CHOICE® Floración.
This is an inimitable xerophyte cultivated in Madrid in a high-tech square pot with substrate activated with mycorrhizal fungi.
9x9 cm pot
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