This little baby was on my little (but getting bigger) cactus wishlist for quite a while. I got a little cutting of this one and I care for it best I can!
Last year it even bloomed for me with two, adorable flowers :)
Mediolobivia pygmaea mudanensis
Just like the last one I showed Sulcorebutia right here, this one also is rather tiny plant with harmless spines. And when it grows it will grow more side offshoots than tall. The main pant will not be very big. Ever. I am hoping for some of those this year. It was repoted last week to a brand new cactus mix and got a new, a little larger pot as well. She is all set for spring to come... which is very soon here. The temperatures are rising and with those the cacti will slowly wake up.
The specie is native to some regions of Bolivia and Argentina. It can be found on rocky soil and most of the plant often will hide under ground. It has this very fat root, like a carrot that can store the water and nutrients for a long time. Thus it is very drought tolerant. In case of lack of water the root will slowly pull the above the ground part deeper to protect it from the heat and minimize the water loss. I noticed this to happen with my other cacti that also have the big tap root. To the point that they were completely flat with the soil level :)They are smart - they know what to do :)
But with that tap root you gotta be careful not to overwater it. Since they store a lot of water, they do not need to much and it actually may kill it.
And she is a real tough cookie! She was in one of the sunniest cactus spot, getting sun for many hours a day even during the summer and she handles it all like a champ!
Besides that it is cold hardy too, even to -10 degrees if kept completely dry in winter. That's why I do not water it for about 3 winter months at all.
I didn't detect any fragrance on this one. Some cacti have very fragrant blooms!
But look how pretty the petals are. Very delicate peachy colour full of sparkles.
Here with two other blooming in the same time: Aylostera Flavistyla FR756 (Strange that I posted about the one flower, but now when she was in full bloom! Will fix that :) ) and Lobivia Arachnacantha.
How not to love them. Spiky little things with such gorgeous flowers!
»« Shot with Nikon D5500 + Sigma 105mm lens
(ƒ/25, 1/160, ISO160)
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