Turbinicarpus Lophophoroides Cactus Plant

Turbinicarpus Lophophoroides Origin: Mexico, San Louis de Potosì,  situated between the counties of Ciudad del Maiz on the north, and Cerritos-Villa Juarez on the west and Rio Verde on the south, at an altitude between 800 and 1150 m above sea level.

Ecology and habitat: It is found in several populations varying from a few individuals up to several thousands of specimens in sparse grassland with herbs, or very open woodland and open land with several opuntias, the plants grow not hidden in crevices on sloping terrains, but are located on deep, salty plains with mostly gypsum soil, that are seasonally flooded with great concentration of salts and pH that can in some areas exceed 9.  Plant retract heavily into the ground during the dry season, so much that they can disappear until the following rains don’t bring them to their original dimension and make them reappear on the surface. The type of environment where this taxon lives, allows insects to visit many flowers, since the plants are not hidden in crevices on sloping terrains and the flowers are very visible, so the essential mechanisms used by the other Turbinicarpus sensu stricto species are not necessary. Also, the T. lophophoroides populations, are, if left undisturbed, relatively prolific, in fact they are not linked to a particularly impervious and hostile environment (from the water availability point of view), like that of the majority of the other turbinicarpi, in fact T. lophophoroides is found in numerous populations located on deep and horizontal ground.

Description: Dwarfed usually solitary, flattened globose cactus (but sometimes clusters with age) This turbinicarpus, one of the first discovered, almost a century ago, has remained little known for a long time, due to the difficulty, for a long period, to find it in the wild. It specific name remember us that it resembles the genus Lophophora.