Echinopsis

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Family: Cactaceae
Habitat: Desert and arid zone in South America
Cultivation: Few growing attentions will be enough to have beautiful blooms: scarce watering (every 5-6 days even in summer), annual or biannual repotting, leave the plant to rest during the winter and remove the pollens at its base before the arrival of cold.
Curiosity: As for Echinocactus Echinocereus genres , the name comes from Latin word Echinos, that means porcupine, which indicates the presence of numerous and robust thorns. In this variant, even the -opsis suffix reinforces this concept as it means “the look of”. Compared to its thorny relatives, however, the Echinopsis gives you abundant and frequent blooms.

ECHINOPSIS KEY FEATURES

The plants of the Echinopsis gender are cacti, generally provided with a globular stem, that with age can stretch a lot and with ribs that vary depending on the types. The species are in fact numerous (over 130 and very differentiated between them). Sometimes they grow isolated but more often they have a bushy formation. The main feature of this cactus are flowers, which are particularly large compared to the plant. They come out when the plant has reached maturity (usually around 3 years), have different colors, are fragrant and very showy. A show that is worth treating yourself, even if the single flower usually lives a few days: the plant as a whole, moreover, can have many buds and the flowering can be quite prolonged. The great variety of blooms, commercially available, in addition to the many species belonging to this genus, is also due to the easiness with which the plant can hybridize.

VARIETY AND TYPES

The genus Echinopsis includes many species; especially in the 70s new types were discovered and other that initially were assigned to different genres, later were subsumed into this group.

Today we have 131 different species:

Here are some:

Echinopsis adolfofriedrichii
E. ancistrophora
E. angelesii
E. antezanae
E. arachnacantha
E. arboricola
E. arebaloi
E. atacamensis
E. aurea
E. backebergii
E. baldiana
E. bertramiana
E. bolligeriana
E. bonnieae
E. boyuibensis
E. breviflora
E. bridgesii
E. cabrerae
E. caineana
E. cajasensis
E. calliantholilacina
E. callichroma
E. calochlora K.
E. camarguensis
E. candicans
E. catamarcensis
E. caulescens
E. cephalomacrostibas
E. chalaensis
E. chamaecereus
E. chiloensis
E. chrysantha
E. chrysochete
E. cinnabarina
E. clavata
E. cochabambensis
E. comarapana
E. conaconensis
E. coquimbana
E. coronata
E. cotacajesii
E. crassicaulis
E. cuzcoensis
E. densispina
E. derenbergii
E. deserticola
E. escayachensis
E. eyriesii (even in the crestato variant)
E. fabrisii
E. famatimensis
E. ferox
E. formosa
E. fraciliflora
E. friedrichii
E. glauca
E. haematantha
E. hahniana
E. hammerschmidii
E. hertrichiana
E. huascha
E. huotti
E. hystrichoides
E. ibicuatensis
E. kladiwaiana
E. klingleriana
E. knuthiana
E. lageniformis
E. lamprochlora
E. lateritia
E. leucantha (even in the E. Marayes variant)
E. macrogona
E. mamillosa
E. marsoneri
E. mataranensis
E. maximiliana
E. meyeri
E. mieckleyi
E. minuana
E. mirabilis
E. molesta
E. nigra
E. obrepanda (even in the caloruba variant)
E. oligotricha
E. oxygona
E. pachanoi
E. pampana
E. pamparuizii
E. pentlandii
E. peruviana
E. pseudomammillosa
E. pugionacantha
E. quadratiumbonata
E. rhodotricha
E. riviere-de-caraltii
E. saltensis
E. sanguiniflora
E. santaensis
E. schickendantzii
E. schieliana
E. schoenii
E. scopulicola E. subdenudata (even in the crestata and Augusto de Villamontes variants)
E. serpentina
E. silvestrii
E. smrziana
E. spachiana
E. spinibarbis
E. stilowiana
E. strigosa
E. subdenudata
E. sucrensis
E. tacaquirensis
E. taratensis
E. tarijensis
E. tarmaensis
E. tegeleriana
E. terscheckii
E. thelegona
E. thelegonoides
E. thionantha
E. tiegeliana
E. trichosa
E. tubiflora
E. tulhuayacensis
E. tunariensis
E. uyupampensis
E. vasquezii
E. volliana
E. walteri
E. werdermannii
E. yuquina

TIPS FOR GROWING

As for all cacti, Echinopsis is not particularly difficult to grow. It is recommended to well protect your hands during the nursing operations and especially during refilling.

The required exposure is in full sun, preferably in a well ventilated area.
The ideal temperature for the Echinopsis is between 10 ° C and 30 ° C. When temperatures fall below this limit it is better to protect the plants; if the temperatures rise it becomes advisable to protect the cacti from direct sunlight.
This succulent requires very little watering: once every five, six days will be enough. Do not water again if the ground is not completely dried.
It is recommended the use of specific cacti soil and fertilizers; fertilize once every 15 days.
For optimal bloom in summer, it is recommended to leave the plant in a cool place in winter and to remove any side pollens(which can be used as cuttings).
Basically, the Echinopsis must be repotted every year. More than the dimensions of the plant, check the ones of the roots: if they leave little room on the ground or worse they come out from the lower holes of the pot, it’s definitely the case to proceed to a repotting.

The propagation by cuttings, and in particular via pollens, is the simplest and most frequent. Alternatively, you can bury the seeds and let them germinate in a sandy and moist soil.

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Cactaceae, South America