Gymnocalycium pfanzii

I love walking in to the Death Valley Shack seeing flower buds one day and SURPRISE.....Succulents and cacti play by their own rules on how soon they will open or when. I have had some cactus bloom and never have seen the flower when it opens. It seems down right mean!

 

Gymnocalycium pfanzii grows in the areas of south-east of Bolivia, north-west of Paraguay and north of Argentina. Found growing in deep, rich soil in sunny rocky areas, on slopes, or under spiny shurbs. The color on the flower is amazing, classified a white flower with a carmine/pink throat. 

Blooming Gymnocalycium

Have been waiting for this little beauty to bloom. Love the way the flower bud is puffed up like a little balloon. Then when it opens it is a beautiful satin yellow. It is marked Gymnocalycium bruchii, but after looking up more information bruchii flowers are mostly pink or maybe white. Nothing about yellow flowers........But the flower is still pretty.

From the Greek words

gymnos meaning "naked"

kalyx meaning "bud"

Gymnos live in various habitats and elevations in Argentina, part of Uruguay, Paraguay, southern Bolivia and part of Brazil which is the South-Eastern part of South America. The largest of this genus may achieve 7 inches in height and 12 inches in diameter, while most of the species stay well under 5 inches in height and diameter. This small size have relatively easy care requirements making them very popular in cultivation. These flowers are naked without any spines, wool, or bristles. In all species, they are smooth and scaled, resembling the tips of young asparagus shoots. Nearly all species have white, cream-colored or pale-pink flowers, while a few will have dark red or yellow. Flower size is moderate and typically flowers are 1 to 1.5 inches wide. While flowers come easy and at an early age on Gymno plants, they usually need high-heat to open fully and thus do much better in a greenhouse.

Black Chin Cactus

Gymnocalycium eurypleurum
This specimen is planted in a 2 1/2" pot.

Coming from a small barren, inhospitable corner of North Paraguay almost up to the border to Bolivia called Cerro Leon. Always grows solitary, it is a variable low growing species especially for spination. (Some plants have minimal spination while others seem quite heavily armed). Glossy green, dull olive-green to brownish, flattish globular (mature plants may become slightly short columnar) 2 1/2" to 6" across, with a somewhat sunken apex.
Stout, awl shaped spines are glassy white to light-brown in clusters of about 7 mostly straight up to 1/2" to 1 1/2" in length, very symmetrical, and tending to curve upwards, away from the body of the cactus. No obvious central spine. The 1 or 2 central spines when they exist are the same length.
Flowers are mostly near the apex, bell-shaped, pure white or white with a hint of lilac, about 1 1/2" in length and diameter. Inner petals are white to light pink, outer petals are a light purple color with a dark purple center strip. Filaments and style are white and flowers freely throughout the Summer. As with most Gymnocalycium, it is a summer grower species that offers no cultivation difficulties.