16 May 2009
Dwarf opuntioids in flower (part one)
Posted by Stuart under: Cacti .
Difficult to handle, often capable of outgrowing the most accommodating pot in a matter of minutes… there are plenty of reasons why people decide not to grow members of the opuntioideae. A major plus point for me is that I like to be able to watch things grow and opuntias in general provide a pleasing contrast to a tray full of ariocarpus that have sat still for years.
And who’d've thunk it, but they flower too. Here’s Maihueniopsis minuta WG299 putting on a tremendous display. The plant is in a pot that measures 4″ wide by about 5″ deep, and is the first dwarf opuntioid that I’ve grown from a rooted cutting to flowering size.
It’s astonishingly heavy for a relatively small plant: the bulk of it is subterranean. When you see the size of the flower-cup you begin to understand why the plant needs to establish such enormous underground energy reserves before it can set about flowering, and why the majority of buds abort:
