Synonyms:

No synonyms are recorded for this name.

Habitat:

Neobuxbaumia euphorbioides f. crested, being a crested form, is present only in nurseries and doesn’t exist in nature. Neobuxbaumia euphorbioides, instead, is native to Mexico, where it is endemic to the states of Tamaulipas and Veracruz, in extreme eastern San Luis Potosi and in north-eastern Hidalgo and Puebla. This species is threatened by habitat loss due to deforestation by small-holder agriculture and cattle, though its range of occurrance reaches 10000 kmq (unlike the one of, for example, N. polylopha, that is restricted to 6 kmq!). Its habitat are low, dry scrubs.

Description:

Neobuxbaumia euphorbioides f. crested is a rare crested cacti, very appreciated among succulent lovers for the oddity of its peculiar, fan-shaped crests. Every individual is different from any other, as the cellular crested growth habit can form wrinkles and wavy points in an odd, very attractive pattern. Apart from the crests, the stem is bright green and have creamy-white tinged in brown spines borne in groups of 4-5 from white areoles, which are usually lined up on the irregular ribs of the crests. These ribs, depending on the form taken by the convoluted stem, may also form also isolated tubercles, on which there is always at least an areole. Another striking peculiarity of the crested form of this cacti is that the entire plant can reac a diameter of 1 meter!
Flowers are nocturnal and are grown from the sides, near the top, and are pink-red with a pale yellow centre.

Cultivation:

Neobuxbaumia euphorbioides f. crested is not difficult to cultivate. Here are our cultivation tips:

If grown in greenhouse, place it in full light, in a humid environment. Outdoors, place it in a bright spot, under direct sunlight.
Be careful not to leave the plant below 6 – 8 ° C. In winter it is better to shelter the plant, possibly moving it indoors or in a greenhouse.
Water abundantly but unfrequently in Spring and Summer, always waiting for the soil to dry up completely before each irrigation. Stop watering completely in the period from October to March, for a proper vernalization.
Choose a poor, rocky, well-drained soil, with an abundant minerla part.
A standard fertilizer for cactaceae can be used in pots.
They do not need frequent fertilization: just dilute a specific product for cacti with watering once a year, during the growth season.
Normally, these cactacees need to be repotted once every 1-2 years: they can grow 5-15 centimeters a year. Just repot anytime you see that the plant has outgrown its pot.

Propagation:

Propagation is possible only through cuttings. Crested forms produce often sterile seeds. Also, if, ipotetically, we sow a seed of a crestate form, the resulting plantlet wouldn’t be crested. Cuttings should be taken off in Spring and let dry until the callous is formed, namely for a few days, and then replanted in a well-draining soil, maintained moisted but not excessively, to allow the cutting to root without rotting. Also grafting is possible.

Curiosity:

“Crestata” varieties are the result of a phenomenon called “Fasciation”. Fasciation is an abnormal growth condition of vascular plants where a group of cells reproduces new cells just in two directions (instead of in all direction as usual), and forms
elongated tissues, flattened perpendicularly to the direction of cellular growth.

Official Web Site:
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Italian Blog:
www.giromagicactus.com

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