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Frailea angelesii
On beautiful summer days one can admire the splendour of its
beautiful yellow flower, larger than the plant itself.
The diminutive
stem is a splendid shining dark-purple, with ginger spines.
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Frailea angelesii is an odd & very showy species with very dark
heads. Eventually it will form small clumps. |
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Photo &
© copyright
by Süleyman Demir Turkey
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Family:
Cactaceae (Cactus
Family)
Scientific Name:
Frailea angelesii R. Kiesling ex
K.H. Prestlé
In: Gattung Frailea (Br. & R.) Prestlé: 52, without latin
descr. or type, 1997
Conservation status: Listed in
CITES Appendix II
Etymology:
The
genus name
"Frailea"
remembers the Spanish
"Manuel
Fraile",
born in 1850, who was responsible for the
cactus collection of
the United
States Department of Agriculture at the end of
the XIX century.
The
species name
name
"angelesii"
derives from the wife of the argentine botanist
Roberto Kiesling, Angeles (with a wrong Latin termination)
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Description: F. angelesii is a miniature slow-growing
species. It branches from the base, and eventually produces small clumps
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Stem: It is diminutive in size, shortly columnar, shiny
dark-purple or dark-brown, up to 3 cm in height (or more in
cultivation), 2-2,5 cm in diameter.
Ribs: About 13, with round and tapering tubercles.
Areoles: Placed on the upper side of the tubercles.
Spines: Ginger coloured, spreading, thin, 1,5-3 mm long.
Roots: Fat central tap root.
Flowers:
Infundibuliform, larger than the plant itself, sulphur-yellow, 2,5 cm
in diameter. But don't be disappointed when the easily produced
buds fail to open.
Fraileas are
cleistogamous, meaning that their flowers are internally pollinated
and produce seed without even opening. Without the need for
pollination, the buds rarely reach full
bloom and remain closed. They will open only in great heat, in the
hottest, brightest, afternoon sun, if at all.
Fruit:
Dry,
indehiscent, that detach easily,
pericarp
membranous, fragile that break easily, releasing the seed.
Notes: This plant is short-living (It only lives about 10-15 years).
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Cultivation: Fraileas are are tiny plants with comparatively
big yellow flowers, often bigger than the whole plant itself and are
especially suitable for those with limited growing space. They can be
easily grown in a sunny windowsill or a small greenhouse. The secret for
keeping Fraileas happy and growing is to pot them in a rich, porous soil
with good drainage and aeration, to give them lots of water and
let them dry out between waterings. Fraileas do like more water than
most other cacti. If you over-pot them (in about 6-7 cm pots) they grow
much better and healthier, as they can be quite short-lived if not given
correct growing conditions. During winter they like cool and dry places
(minimum temperature of
5-10° C) but even light frosts do not
harms them. Characteristically, during the
dry season plants
retract completely
under the ground, both in the
wild and in
cultivation too. Occasional light spray of water during the winter
helps plants from shrivelling up too much. In the summer they like the
pot to be filled with rainwater (which is always better to use
than tap water) quickly absorbed by the plants, and one can almost see
the little bodies swelling up. After a day or two, it is best to drain
off any remaining water in the under-pots.
Sun Exposure: They
enjoy full sun.
In a
shaded position the plants grow faster, but are not
flat shaped or dark
coloured.
Propagation:
With fresh harvested seeds or (rarely)
by
grafting. The seeds germinates well. Sow the them on the soil
surface, so that they can grow to a reasonable size before they have to
be pricked out into a bigger tray. The seed trays go into a heated
propagator on a windowsill where they catch the afternoon sun. It does
not take long for the seeds to germinate, and some will do so within a
day or two after sowing. When they have reached a height of about 1 cm
they are pricked out into a larger tray, where they remain until they
are large enough to go into individual pots.
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