Synonyms:

Echinopsis ancistrophora
Echinopsis ancistrophora var. graulichii
Echinopsis ancistrophora var. hamatacantha
Echinopsis ancistrophora var. polyancistra
Echinopsis leucorhodantha
Echinopsis lobivioides
Echinopsis obrepanda subsp. tapecuana
Echinopsis pelecyrhachis
Echinopsis pelecyrhachis var. lobivioides
Echinopsis polyancistra
Echinopsis tapecuana

Habitat:

E. subdenudata is native to Argentina Northwest, Bolivia and Paraguay. In its habitat the plant can spread up to 1800 m of altitude. This species grows in many habitat types, such as grasslands, shrublands, and forests.

Description:

E. subdenudata is a cactus belonging to the Cactaceae botanical family. The plant has a round ball-shaped stem, bright green without spines. The stem is arranged in 8-12 ribs, divided by furrows. On the edge of each ribs there are small cream-colored areoles. Areoles can bear short greyish spines usually hidden by areolar wool. The plant can reach 12 cm in diameter and can be solitary or offsetting from the base. Blooming occurs in late spring and throughout the summer and blossom are borne near the top of the plant. Flowers are large, white or light pink, funnel-shaped with long stalks up to 15 cm. Flowers are made up of many petals and in the center there are yellow anthers which make the plant wonderful. This species has a night-blooming, very rapid therefore flowers open at the morning and remain opened all the night long, then at the second day they start to wither.

Cultivation:

This is a slow growing  cactus but quite easy to cultivate. For this cactus the best sun-exposure is light shade, and the plant does not like temperatures below 10 °C so it needs to be placed indoors during the coldest periods. The soil should be mixed with pumice, clay and loam to allow the drainage and prevent the root rot, the plant is prone to it indeed. Remember to use perforating pot to drain excess water. Watering can be done regularly from March to November: during the vegetative period you can water the plant (every 10 days), checking that the soil is completely dry before watering again; in winter you should stop the watering to allow to the plant to enter dormancy. If you want a very fast and lush growth you can fertilize the plant once a month during the growing season with the specifics fertilizers for cacti; stop fertilizing throughout the winter. If the pot starts to be too small for the plant you can repot the plant in a pot 2 cm wider. Repotting should be done usually every 3 years, early in the growing season with fresh new potting soil.

Propagation:

Propagation can be done by seed or by cutting. By seed is very simple to propagate the plant, it is enough to sow the seed in a sandy loam soil and keep it with high level of humidity; temperatures of germination are between 20 and 28 °C. By cutting you can use steam cuttings during the spring. Cut a segment and then let it dry; after a few days the cut surface will dry and a callus will form, then place the cutting in a mixture of sand, soil and pumice. To increase success of propagation you can cut two or more segments at the same time. For cuttings is recommended temperatures around 20 °C.

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. The name “subdenudata” is a Latin word that means “almost naked” and this because this species is usually spineless.

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