25 May 2009
Aztekium ritteri
Posted by Stuart under: Cacti .
Aztekium ritteri fascinates me.
It’s a very tactile plant, extremely rough to the touch, and its wrinkly texture reminds me of the face of poet W. H. Auden in his later years.
I don’t grow this species on its own roots, simply because I haven’t come across a reasonable-sized plant for a reasonable price. I suppose that’s inevitable given how slowly it grows, but it does seem to be the case that one can get hold of a mature plant of Aztekium hintonii fairly easily, but not its close relative. On a graft, like the majority of slow-growing Mexican plants, it offsets far more readily than on its own roots.
My plant is approaching 2 inches in diameter, and is shown here with its beautifully delicate pale pink flowers. It’s grafted on Myrtillocactus geometrizans.