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Updated: May 9, 2025
H. Williams, of Hendon, who formed a fine and select collection, and, on account of the eagerness of growers to obtain the new and rare plants, high prices were given for them, ten, twelve, and even twenty and thirty guineas often being given for single plants of the Echinocactus.
In height the stems sometimes reach l½ ft., with from thirty to forty ribs, bearing little discs of white wool at the bases of the clusters of spines. Native of Brazil. Introduced about 1840; it is more like a Cereus, in the form of its stem, than an Echinocactus. It flowers in June, and requires stove treatment. The stems, when dried carefully and stuffed with wadding, form pretty ornaments.
The flattened, wavy or curled ridges of this species are characteristic of several other kinds of Echinocactus. Its long, stout, ferocious-looking spines, directed upwards, have a very forbidding aspect. The stem grows to a height of about 8 in., and is said to produce its large, long-tubed, purple flowers in the summer months.
Treated in this manner, the following hardy species could not fail to be a success: Opuntia Rafinesquii and var. arkansana, O. vulgaris, O. brachyarthra, O. Picolominiana, O. missouriensis, O. humilis, Cereus Fendleri, C. Engelmanni, C. gonacanthus, C. phoeniceus, Echinocactus Simpsoni, E. Pentlandii, Mamillaria vivipara.
When not in flower it might easily be mistaken for Echinocactus pectinatus. It should be grown in a sunny position, in a warm house or pit, all summer, and wintered on a shelf, near the glass, in a temperature of from 45 degs. to 50 degs. during winter. Under cultivation it is apt to rot suddenly at the base, more especially when old.
The flowers, of course, appear according to the length of time it takes for the species to grow to flowering size. Several kinds of Echinocactus are distinguished from the rest in having the ridges divided into tubercles, which are often globular and arranged in a spiral round the stem, as in the genus Mamillaria; to this section the present species belongs.
Some species of Mamillaria and Echinocactus develop young plants from the tops of their tubercles; and this also points to the probability that the latter are branches. In Leuchtenbergia, the tubercles fall away as the plant increases in height, leaving a bare, woody stem similar to that of a Yucca. Cultivation. The Leuchtenbergia has always been difficult to keep in health.
M. vivipara is quite hardy in New York, as also are several other kinds, whilst we learn that by planting them out in summer, and protecting them by means of a frame from heavy rain, dews, fogs, and sudden changes of weather, a good many species of both Mamillaria and Echinocactus are successfully managed in the neighbourhood of that town. Cultivation.
All the larger-stemmed kinds may be kept in health when grown on their own roots; but for some of the smaller species it is a good plan to graft them upon the stem of some of the Cereuses, C. tortuosus or C. colubrinus being recommended for the smaller kinds, and for the larger C. peruvianus, C. gemmatus, or any one the stem of which is robust, and of the right dimensions to bear the species of Echinocactus intended to be grafted.
They come next to Cereus, and are distinguished as follows: ECHINOPSIS. Stem as in Echinocactus, but the flowers are produced low down from the side of the stem, and the flower tube is long and curved. PILOCEREUS. Stem tall, columnar, bearing long silky hairs as well as spines; flowers in a head on the top of the stem, rarely produced.
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