Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Parodia magnifica

Parodia magnifica


Parodia magnifica is one of the most attractive species of the genus. The golden spines grow thickly along each rib, and they are very fine textured and flexible. Commonly called the Balloon Cactus because of its shape, it becomes more columnar as it ages. The yellow flowers on the P. magnifica are almost translucent. Some years the cactus will produce three or four flowers at once, other years, singly, such as this one has this year.
P. magnifica can vary from specimen to specimen. some specimens have a bluish green body, and others are dark green like my specimen. Also variable are the spine length, number of ribs and whether it will produce offsets. I have never had a specimen that produced offsets, but my sister has one with numerous offsets around the base of the cactus. Because they are so attractive, I prefer specimens that do not produce offsets.
Before being reclassified into the Parodia genus, this cactus was in the Notocactus genus. Most Notocactus species come from a Brazilian climate that is cold and dry in winter, so P. magnifica would do well in my garden if I chose to remove this pair from their pot and to plant them there someday.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's a lovely photo, with the radiating spines and the curving dish, and of course the cactus in flower.

Tracy said...

Are most of your cacti as compact as they look? It doesn't take a cactus to be big b4 it flowers, which is kind of neat. I love those yellow flowers, it's something you don't get to see everyday, well me anyways....lol.

Jean said...

The translucent quality of the yellow flower is awesome! Absolutely beautiful. To answer your question about the wood hiacynth, they do have a sweet smell like regular ones but it is no where near as strong.

Laurie and Chris said...

The yellow flower on this cactus is so neat it almost looks 3d.

Garden Wise Guy said...

Found a plausible answer to the bizarre cactus I posted for Green Thumb Sunday. Click over if you're interested.

GWG

Dawn said...

This is lovely!

me said...

Lovely, as always, Aiyana

Gin said...

What a delicate flower. It appears to be made of soft gauze.

Anonymous said...

It's a nice species, this - I like the way the crowns get slanted as they age.

Julie said...

What a Magnifica plant!!!