A small melocactus bought from the local garden centre. The body is about 4 inches in diameter, without the spines. Is it obvious what species these are?
Raging against the dying of the light, I'm afraid. Taken as the sun goes down, lying under the trampoline to catch the one place in the garden that the last rays illuminate. So there might be a bit of a colour cast.
Many thanks
David Lambie
Bristol
Hopefully someone with more experience of Melos will be able to confirm, (I don't grow them!), but i think it's M matanzanus. They seem to be quite common now in garden centres and DIY stores. I saw some last week on sale for £4.99, but without cephalium.
Thanks Diane for that quick reply. That is the name I have always assumed but when I looked in the New Cactus Lexicon pictures, I was less sure and wondered about violaceus, among others. I haven't grown these for years since I restructured the conservatory (with pound hammer) and got rid of my hot-box.
I think this was about £5, it had just formed a tuft in the middle when I got it and other plants there had none.
Cheers
David
