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P. tuberosus (kuntzei) is a
caudex forming plant with thin fragile growth that breaks off easily,
but also grows back quickly.
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Description: This is a
geophyte cactus with huge tuberous roots under the soil
,with thin
fragile blue-light to brownish-purple stems that breaks off easily.
Flowers are a pale to deep yellow and the stigma can go from almost
white, to pink or to deep red. The flowers are produced from the apex of new
growth. |
The
flowers form
apically at the tip of
stems.
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Cultivation: Pterocacti are easy to grow, provided they are kept
cold, but dry during autumn and winter. It is essential to give
full sun; otherwise they will become atypical.
If grown in full sun, the
new growth will flower profusely in spring and summer.
Most of the slender stems become detached during winter, but some
advise to help the plant by
pruning all the top growth in autumn, to encourage
it to produce stems with terminal flowers in the spring.
Reproduction: Seeds/Cuttings Pterocactus tuberosus
tuber
is sometime used as an hardy grafting stock for south-American cacti like tephrocactus
malyanus.
The genus pterocactus belong to the subfamily Opuntioideae
and has been given its own tribe, the Pterocacteae. |
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Family:
Cactaceae (Cactus
Family) |
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Scientific name:
Pterocactus tuberosus (Pfeiffer) Britton & Rose 1919
Origin: Northern Argentina
from Rio Negro in the south to Salta in the north and Patagonia. Many
different forms exist.
Ecology: this plant has a peculiar reproductive mechanism: they
have the ability to lose their sprouts in autumn and winter. These are
then spread by strong winds and volatile sands, and can give origins to
new plants in the next vegetative season.
The Pterocactus tuberose
roots will grow new floriferous stems again.
Conservation status: Listed in
CITES appendix 2.
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Synonyms:
- Pterocactus kuntzei K. Schumann
1892
- Opuntia tuberosa
- Pterocactus tuberosus var. decipiens
- Pterocactus decipiens
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Pterocactus kuntzei (tuberusus)
The huge Pterocactus tuberose roots.
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Cultivation and
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