Monvillea
Family: Cactaceae
Habitat: South America Paraguay, Brazil, Perù
Cultivation: The Monvillea spegazzinii is a fast growing and simple to cultivate plant. Keep it away from direct sunlight and set up supporting sticks for long, fine branches.
Curiosity: This genus contains a single species, M. spegazzinii, highly sought especially in monstrous and crested forms. According to some classifications, it should be part of the Cereus genus.
Monvillea Key Features
The Monvillea genus includes a single species, M. spegazzinii. It has thin, long, blue-colored stems that grow very long (even a few meters) but remain relatively fine. They are branched by four vertical ribs. The areolas that bear the thorns grow along the ribs. Flowers can be up to 12-15 cm long and have nice and delicate shapes and colors: they are funneled, light and very fragrant. The roots are usually tuberous. The monstrous and crested forms are the ones that attract the interest of the lovers most.
VARIETIES AND TYPES
As already mentioned, you can find:
- Monvillea spegazzinii
- M. spegazzinii f. mostruosa
- M. spegazzinii f. crestata (there are two different types of crest, type “A” and type “B”)
TIPS FOR CULTIVATION
It is a fast-growing and easy to cultivate cactacea. Here are our tips:
- EXPOSURE: It Prefers a sheltered location away from direct sunlight, not too bright.
- TEMPERATURE: It is recommended to keep the plant always above 8-10 ° C. However, if the ground is well dry it can tolerate short frosts.
- WATERING: Water regularly every 4-5 days in spring and summer, but be careful that the soil is dry before proceeding with a new wetting. Suspend completely watering in the winter.
- SOIL: Use a standard soil for cactacea enriched with a little peat.
- CONCIMATION: Concimate once a month during the vegetative period with a rich product in nitrogen and microelements.
- REPOT: The rapid growth of the plant may require either the annual repotting and, given the particular plant growth, the preparation of tall but thin stem supports.
- REPRODUCTION: The plant reproduces either by seed and cuttings. Usually, however, the branch cutting is used for the simplicity and quickness of this method. Plants born from cuttings tend to flourish much earlier.
