I have been battling with my way too many but still not enough cacti for the past few days. Cleaning the trays, removing bugs and spent flowers, repotting the ones that need bigger pot this year and getting rid of the ones that didn't make it (yes.. there was few of those too.).
Until I got to some very small one but with few new offshoots. I remembered that it did bloom for me last summer. I never had the name for it, but I did take photos of it. It was time to ask my cacti gurus on a cactus forum what this little thing is.
Lobivia arachnacantha
And I was right that someone will know what it is. The suggestion came pretty fast and very accurate. Lobivia arachnacantha or Lobivia arachnacantha v. sulphurea. Now my yellow sunshine can get a tag and in a new, bigger pot will look even more fancy ;). And since I don't think I did show it before, here it is.
This specie is native to Bolivia and Argentina and grows on very rocky soil on higher elevations (1800-2600 meters above sea level). It is a small plant that will eventually form a nice cluster (unless I will be tempted to propagate it and will remove the offshoots), which mine is already doing. There is about 5 little babies around. If they grow big enough and also start blooming it will be an amazing show!
Not only it is very tough and will withstand high temperatures and drought, but also very low, up to -5 degrees C. I keep mine almost in full sun and on the unprotected balcony all year round and it seems to be very happy. I only make sure it doesn't get wet in winter, as any other cacti.
I received it as a single, small cutting (thank you @ludmila.kyriakou!) that rooted in no time and the following summer bloomed with one, huge flower! See how big it is comparing to the plant itself? The cactus is maybe 1,5 cm across. The flower is like a tangerine. And the colour is just WOW with very long and very delicate petals.
And a little group shot with small orange Aylostera and even bigger yellow flower of Notocactus that is already in cactus heaven.
I just love how they bloom all together like this :)
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Shot with Nikon D5500 + Sigma 105mm lens
All photos and text are my own.
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