Gymnocalycium is a neat little cactus native to South America, mostly found in Argentina, but sometimes found in Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Brazil. Sometimes nicknamed the chin cactus because the rounded ribs often have a “chin” below the areoles. The flowers can be white, pink, yellow, even red depending on the variety, I thought I had mine identified, but when I did a little research, the flower was the wrong color for the variety I thought I had!
This plant surprised me with two blooms in June. I enjoyed the flowers, but did not take a picture for some reason. Then on July 17, it did it again, and this time I took pictures.
These flowers closed at night and reopened for several days, a plus, since most cactus blooms only last one day. So I had the pleasure of seeing them for four days.
You can see in this view of the plant the somewhat fat chin right under the areoles, the part of the cactus from which the spines emanate. You can also see the underside of the flower has no hairs or spines, from which the name comes. It is Greek for naked calyx, and this flower is naked, so to speak.
I went through ninety-six pictures of gymnocalyciums trying to ID my plant to no avail, but did realize I have more of this species than I realized! Some have no bloomed yet, and some probably aren’t correctly identified yet, but they are doing well, and I enjoy watching them grow.
And I look forward to more flowers in the future.
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