Description
This is the very rare red blooming form of this popular species that usually has yellow flowers.
Stem: Globose, that elongates to a height of 5-10 cm and a diameter of 7-13 cm, with a depressed, spineless apex. The epidermis is green,.
Ribs: About 18 straight, well distinct, with prominent, rounded tubercles with chin-like protrusion.
Areoles: Large, deeply embedded between the tubercles, and set about 5 mm apart.
Radial spines: 8 to 10, slender, whitish to brownish, needlelike, usually less than 5 mm long.
Central spines: 4 (or more), up to 15 mm long, not easily distinguishable from the radials, usually flattish, thicker, straight and more than twice as long, white, yellow to brown with a brown tip, one usually flattened.
*Flowers: Bright magenta-pink with a orange-red throat, beautifully emphasized by the golden yellow stamens overtopped by the purplish-red stigma lobes, 5cm in diameter, with a short tube covered with white wool and brown bristles.
Origin and Habitat
This red population of Parodia mammulosa is reported from the north of Argentina.
Cultivation and Propagation
This is an easy plant to cultivate. Can support quite a lot of water during the growing season.
Watering Needs: Keep rather dry in winter. It rots easily if soil is wet and cold. Relatively cold hardy,
Sun Exposure: Light shade to full sun, but it doesn’t like full, hot blazing sun in the central summer months.
Propagation: Seed.
Bibliography
Major references and further lectures
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Edward F. Anderson “The Cactus Family” Timber Press, 2001
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Curt Backeberg “Cactus Lexicon” Sterling Publishing Company, Incorporated, 1978
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Hiroshi Hirao “Colour encyclopaedia of cacti” Japan 1979 (Japanese language and script)
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Willy Cullmann, Erich Götz (Dozent Dr.), Gerhard Gröner “The encyclopedia of cacti” Portland, OR: Timber Press, 1986
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David Hunt, Nigel Taylor “The New Cactus Lexicon” DH Books, 2006 ISBN 0953813444, 9780953813445
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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
