Mystery Cactus
Parodia erinacea
This came to us as a mystery cactus, and then it bloomed, so it was easy enough to see it was a Parodia. But our books list all kinds of Parodias as other names, like this one which was listed as a Notocactus, so I had to know in advance that there was a high likelihood that the Parodia was listed as a Notocactus – and there it was! Then I took out my trusty copy of Anderson and looked up the old Notocactus name and found it was an archaic synonym for the correct name.
So what does our trusty Anderson have to say about this lovely plant with a cephalium? It’s one of those plants that is often partly submerged when found in nature – you can tell because it has that flattened globose form. The fruit, if this is successfully pollinated (we do have 2 in bloom right now!) will be pink. The seeds are bell shaped. And the distribution is Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. Thanks, Anderson!
