Notocactus (Parodia) ID help

[Mike]

I won a pack of seeds in a branch raffle three years ago, labelled Notocactus elegans. Two seedlings survived, and the first has flowered today.

I'm not entirely sure that there IS a Notocactus (or Parodia) elegans, so any ID suggestions would be welcome. The flower is a rather green yellow, the bud oddly pointed, and the body with plenty of ribs.

Mike
[attachment 18912 Notunk1.jpg]

[Mike]

And from a slightly different view.
It's in a 2 inch pot by the way.
Mike

[iann]

Parodia ottonis?

[Mike]

Don't think it's P. ottonis. I have a few of them and they have fewer ribs and areoles much further apart I think.
Mike

[Cristi]

Notocactus vanvlietii?

[Mike]

Thanks Cristi.
I've looked at a few pics and it looks good: greenish flowers, pointed buds, many ribs...
Mike

[DaveW]

There seem to be a few Notocacti on the Web with the varietal tag "elegans" on them. N. concinnus v. elegans, N. ottonis v. elegans and N. muller-melchersii v. elegans. I found this one just named N. elegans:-

http://www.astrokaktus.com/CactusBase/c ... ans___.jpg

Obviously most of these are simply minor variants and all probably nomina nuda so will never probably ever be validly published.

DaveW

[Marlon Machado]

Hello Mike,

Your plant is Parodia (Notocactus) arnostiana. The shape of the body with the many ribs and low spines could confuse this plant with P. concinna, forms of P. wedermanniana and in special with P. fusca, but the bell-shaped flowers and the anthers tightly clustered around the stigma shows that this species belongs to the P. mammulosa group, and the only species of that group that has a concinna type body and a mammulosa type flower is P. arnostiana.

Notocactus vanvlietii is a form of P. wedermanniana - the flowers are funnel-shaped and the anthers spread evenly in the flower tube instead of clustering around the stigma.

Cheers,

Marlon.

[Mike]

Thanks Marlon.
Not a species I've come across before, but relatively distinctive, and I'm pleased I now have two of them!
Mike

[Cristi]

Thank you Marlon for the excelent post!