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Description: Globular cactus, seldom exceeding
5cm in diameter and rather less in height, with 9 to 11 ribs rounded
ribs and these are in turn crossed by numerous horizontal furrows.
Between these true ribs are small secondary ribs, reaching about halfway
up the plant body. The colour of the younger growth is a rather pale
yellowish green, merging to grey-green on the lower, older growth. The
centre of the cactus contains a lot of white wool. Once the plant body
has reached full size it slowly offsets and small clumps are commonly
found. It does not develop a large storage root.
Spines: 1 to 3 small weak , often missing, from the
youngest areoles. The older areoles form a more or less continuous line
along the centre of the true ribs.
Flowers: Small (less than 10 mm wide) from the plant tip, white
to pink and usually the outer petals have a darker mid-stripe. It
flowers freely in cultivation throughout the summer months. They are
followed by small pink fruit that open when ripe and let out tiny seeds.
Cultivation: It is of extreme slow growth - probably the slowest
of the entire cactus family. It usually takes several years for growth
to be even noticeable. Needs good drainage and regular water in summer.
It should be dried out completely for its winter rest when it will
withstand temperatures down to to -4°C for short periods. Prefer
some shading.
Once a specimen is established on its own roots it is no trouble
to keep it and becomes a easy plant to manage.
Reproduction: It usually multiply by seeds.
The seeds are extremely fine and germinate readily producing
minute seedlings which are very sensitive for the first two months but
many of them perish and taking them to a viable size is very
difficult. They are usually grafted to increase growth speed; In
any case, grafting produces rather atypical plants which tend to be more
obese and to offset much more readily than plants growing on their own
roots. The offsets of grafted plants are often produced from areoles
high up on the plant body rather than at ground level.
It is also possible to root the offsets from grafted plants but with
little success.
Photo of conspecific taxa, varieties, forms and
cultivars of Aztekium ritterii.
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NURSERY
