€42,40

🌱 Morphology
A small horticultural form of Rapicactus beguinii, with a globose to short-cylindrical body, greyish-green or bluish-green, which can reach approximately 8–10 cm in diameter. It features very prominent conical tubercles, arranged in a spiral, and a taproot characteristic of the genus. The most striking feature of ‘senilis’ is its extraordinarily dense, long, and whitish spination, which can almost completely hide the epidermis. The spines are fine, flexible, and slightly curved, with white or crystalline white tones and darker tips.

🌍 Distribution, habitat, and family
Its botanical origin lies in the populations of Rapicactus beguinii from northeastern Mexico, especially in arid and semi-arid areas of Coahuila, Nuevo León, San Luis Potosí, Tamaulipas, and Zacatecas. It lives in calcareous, stony, and highly draining soils, generally among xerophilous scrubland. It belongs to the Cactaceae family. The epithet ‘senilis’ comes from an old classification under Turbinicarpus beguinii and is now preserved primarily as a horticultural denomination.

❄️ Temperature · USDA Zone 8b
It tolerates minimum temperatures of down to −9 ºC when kept dry and with well-acclimated specimens. The tuberous root requires special caution regarding humidity during cold periods.

☀️ Lighting
It requires very intense light and direct sun to develop its characteristic cover of white spines and maintain a compact habit. During active growth, a DLI PAR of 20–30 mol·m⁻²·day⁻¹ is recommended as a reference.

💧 Growth cycle and watering
Winter rest. It must be kept completely dry during the winter. In spring and summer, deep and widely spaced waterings are recommended, allowing the substrate to dry out completely before watering again. Growth is slow, and the taproot makes it especially important to use a mineral, aerated, and fast-draining substrate.

🌸 Flowering
It flowers from 3–4 years of age. It produces relatively large flowers for the size of the body, approximately 2–3 cm in diameter, funnel-shaped and with colors ranging from yellowish-white to pink and magenta, depending on the specimen. They appear near the apex during spring and summer, forming an attractive contrast with the silvery spination. The fruits are small, greenish to magenta.

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

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 pots

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