Brown-flowered Hedgehog, Green-flowered Pitaya, Green Hedgehog

quite common in southern colorado along the interface between the foothills and plains. our local populaton rarely grows in clumps, but c...Read Morean be found as large(perhaps spread over a 20 by 20 ft area) groupings of solitary plants.These assume a distinctly reddish hue during the winter.I have found that nicking the seed coat (tricky because they are so small!) and and germinating the seeds on moist paper towels in a zip top bag improves the germination rate a huge amount.Great little cacti and easy to grow in the drier regions of the country!

This plant tends to lose its roots and shrink in the wintertime, but in summertime needs more water. The stems can get up to 5 inches hig...Read Moreh. The flowers have brown petals with yellow -green centers.

The "viridiflorus" subspecies has stems that have 10 to 14 ribs and are elongated to ovoid in shape. This subspecies is the most common of all the subspecies. The bottom half of the radial spines of each aureole are reddish brown while the top half of the radial spines on each aureole are white-ish. Three central spines, One long white with red tips, and 2 shorter reddish-purple.

This cactus is actually rather small in size. It is usually only 2"-3" tall and forms a clump about 5" wide. Each head is about 1 1/2" ...Read Morewide only. In mid to late spring, it produces plenty of yellow-green flowers 1/2" to 1" in diameter and they are fragrant. Well, if you think the smell of lemon is fragrant that is. If kept dry during mid fall to winter, it could tolerate temperatures down to -10 degrees F. Very hardy for a cactus. But remember, the soil has to by dry. This cactus was originated from New Mexico near Albuquerque.