 |
A small plant with long spines but the plant is kind enough to bury itself in the substrate (given good fortune and some judicious heaping). Plants of the World online says: "The native range of this subspecies is SW. Bolivia to Argentina (Jujuy). It is a succulent subshrub and grows primarily in the montane tropical biome." The Llifle encyclopedia calls it Tephrocactus pulcherrimus and says: "Origin and Habitat: Department of Chuquisaca( south and north of Cinti to North of Salitre), Bolivia. 2800-3200 metres above sea level. Maihueniopsis subterranea subs. pulcherrima, originally described as Tephrocactus pulcherrimus by J. J. Halda and L. Horácek in 2000, is a small plant geophytic opuntioid cacti with very tuberous root which remains half buried in habitat, showing approximately 1 cm from the ground. This plant tends to proliferate more than the type species both in habitat and culture (albeit slowly) and has a larger (4-6 cm) red or sometimes violet flower. The stems are greener and thinner and form large dense clumps with more than 100 heads." |
|