This is another cacti that I purchased from Luther of Kara Nursery at the last OCSS sale that was held at Portland Nursery. Currently it has two flower buds, there were no flower buds when I brought it home, so this is very exciting.
Copiapoas are an interesting group of plants that come from the coastal desert regions of Chile. Shape is globular, later often columnar, clumping and forms large mounds gray to green in various shades. Spines are various in amount, length and having whitish wool at the base of the spines. Flowers are short tubular, yellow to light yellow in color which is a good identifying feature for this genus. Some of the species have fragrant flowers. Copiapoas should be protected from excessive heat and sun in summer.
Like so many cacti, names can be many. Neoporteria gerocephala is the name on the tag and the name I will catalog it under. The origin of Neoporteria gerocephala is the Valley of Rio Chapoa in Chile located in South American. It is a solitary cacti with a dense covering of spines, it hybridizes easily in habitat and cultivation. The body is purplish and globose to a short columnar shape, 2 1/2"-7" tall, 2"-3" in diameter. The spines are very dense, glassy, variable in color from blond/white, yellow, brown to almost black, with darker tips; straight to strongly curled and tangled, some hairlike soft and flexible, other needle-like and stiff, of variable length, obscuring the plant body and becoming longer with age. Tubular bright colored flowers in the spring being 1"- 2"in length. Will tolerate full sun to light shade, but extremely prone to root rot, needs good drainage.
