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This is one of the most interesting Turbinicarpus, with very large
flowers.
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Description:
Solitary, flattened globose cactus.
Stem: Greyish-green or bluish-green
stem that doesn’t exceed the diameter of (3) 4.5-5 (10 cm).
Tubercles: Organized in 12 spirals.
Areoles: Woolly, later naked.
Spines: 3 to 5 spreading, (even though there are populations with 2 or even 6 spines per
areole).
Flower: usually rather large and white with a pinkish tinge, 3.5-5 cm
in diameter.
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Cultivation: It’s a plant adapted to a
specific type of soil and quite prone to rot especially after the first
flowering. A 10 -30% of natural gypsum could be added to a very well
drained soil. Watering should be rather infrequent, but abundant, so
that the soil becomes completely soaked. The fact that the plant
retracts into the soil and assume a grey-green colouring between
watering, is perfectly natural and doesn’t cause any damage.
Keep dry in
winter or when night temperatures remain below 10° C, it is hardy to -4°C
for a short period. Assure a good ventilation. Exposures: Full sun where
it obtains a natural-looking flat, or part sun.
Propagation: Seeds,
which has good powers of germination, or from shoots which are grafted.
Photo of conspecific taxa, varieties, forms and
cultivars of Turbinicarpus lophophoroides:
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Family:
Cactaceae (Cactus
Family) |
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Scientific name: Turbinicarpus lophophoroides (Werderm.) F. Buxb.& Backebg.
Published in: in Jahrbuch Deutsche
Kakteengesellschaft 1937 :27
(Often misspelled "lophophorioides")
Conservation status: Listed in
CITES appendix I
Origin: Mexico, San Louis de Potosì, situated between the
counties of Ciudad del Maiz on the north, and Cerritos-Villa Juarez on
the west and Rio Verde on the south, at an altitude between 800 and 1150
m above sea level.
Ecology and habitat: It
is found in several populations varying from a few individuals up to
several thousands of specimens in sparse grassland with herbs, or very
open woodland and open land with several opuntias, the plants grow not
hidden in crevices on sloping terrains, but are located on deep, salty
plains with mostly gypsum soil, that are seasonally flooded with great
concentration of salts and pH that can in some areas exceed 9.
Plant retract heavily into the ground during the dry season, so much
that they can disappear until the following rains don’t bring them to
their original dimension and make them reappear on the surface.
Basionym: Thelocactus lophophoroides
Werderm.
Pubblished in: Kakteenkunde 1934 : 176-177
Synonyms:
- Strombocactus lophophoroides
(Werderm.) F.Knuth
in Kaktus-ABC, 356
(Backeberg & F. Knuth, 1935).
- Toumeya lophophoroides (Werderm.)
H.Bravo-H. & W.T.Marshall
in Saguaroland Bull. 1956
:119 (Bravo-Helia & Marshall, 1956).
- Neolloydia lophophoroides (Werderm.)
E.F.Anderson
in Bradleya 4 : 1-28 (Anderson, 1986).
- Pediocactus lophophoroides (Werderm.)
Halda
in Acta Mus. Richnov. 5 (1) : 21 (1998).
Turbinicarpus lophophoroides forms an
aggregate of taxa with the following:
T.
lophophoroides (Las Tablas)
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The swollen
rootstock.
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Cultivation and Mail Sale 
