Description
This is an heavy clumping (monstrous) cultivar, with small and densely branched heads at the tip of each tubercle.
Stem: The central body branches profusely to form an irregular, crowded, cluster of woolly heads that never get much larger but can slowly fill a 15 cm bowl.
Tubercles: Chunky, about 2-5 cm long (much shorter than in the standard species), grayish-green to bluish-green, triangular in cross-section. They are more long than wide, closely packed, erect and slightly divergent.
Axils: Woolly.
Areole: At the tip of the tubercle with abundant grey wool.
Spines: The tubercles are topped with papery, flexible spines; central spines 1-2, up to 1-5 cm long; radials 8 to 14, up to 0,5-2,5 cm long;
Flower: Never seen.
Roots: The cuttings form large swollen tuberose roots.
Origin and Habitat
Garden origin (Nursery produced cultivar)
Cultivation and Propagation
The plants on their own roots need deep pots to accommodate the napiform unit formed by the stem base and the rootstock, and a well-drained loose mineral soil. They need a good amount of light, a place near the roof of the greenhouse helps drying the pot after watering. This can be done weekly during summertime, if the weather is sunny enough, with a little fertilizer added. Kept this way, plants will show a healthy, although slow growth.
Grafted specimens must be cultivated according to the needs of the grafting stock.
Frost Tolerance: Light frost protection required for safe cultivation, but can tolerate sporadic light frost.
Diseases and pests: Watch for infestations of mealybug, scale insects and spider mite.
Propagation: They are almost always grafted onto columnar cacti to accelerate growth, it is also possible to multiplicate it from cuttings (but it is difficult to grow this plant on its own roots).
Bibliography
Major references and further lectures
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James Cullen, Sabina G. Knees, H. Suzanne Cubey “The European Garden Flora Flowering Plants: A Manual for the Identification of Plants Cultivated in Europe, Both Out-of-Doors and Under Glass” Cambridge University Press, 11/Aug./2011
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David Hunt, Nigel Taylor “The New Cactus Lexicon” DH Books, 2006
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Edward F. Anderson “The Cactus Family” Timber Press, 2001
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Nathaniel Lord Britton, Joseph Nelson Rose “Cactaceae: Descriptions and Illustrations of Plants of the Cactus Family” Volume 3, 1922
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Fitz Maurice, B & Fitz Maurice, W.A. 2013. Leuchtenbergia principis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 10 September 2014.
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