Turbinicarpus schwarzii v. rubriflorus (CITES)

Small miniature cactus, a real jewel extremely rare and sought after. It has a globose but strongly flattened body of a delicate opaque light green, almost glaucous. It is equipped with little pronounced rhomboidal tubercles, almost crushed, from which come out white and woolly areoles. Among the strong points of this cactus are certainly its twisted thorns, robust and of a pinstriped grey colour, that tend to turn upwards with their undulatory patterns. While growing, T. schwarzii will tend to lose the thorns along the stem, concentrating them only at the apex where, at the end of winter, between the spines and the thick down will bloom also wonderful candid flowers shaped like a funnel.