The Green Flowered Pincushion Cactus grows from single stems or in small clusters and is cylindrical or globose. The stems are two to four inches long and as much as three inches in diameter. This plant, also, has a flabby texture, with the tubercles arranged in eight to twelve spiral rows, which are disposed rather loosely. The radial spines, slender and needlelike and wide-spreading, loosely interlocking with those of the other spine clusters, are white with brown tips. The central spines are hooked and slender, longer and stouter than the radials, about two inches in length, brown and brown-red. The flowers are not at all showy and are less than an inch long and wide; the sepals and petals are green. The fruit is ovoid and less than an inch long, with a dull purplish or green-purple color.
How to grow
Plants will endure outdoor temperatures of twenty or twenty-five degrees below freezing. In colder climates they will thrive in warm, sunny conservatories. Plants grow readily from seed in sandy loam with occasional watering and part shade. Transplant older plants in gravelly clay with enough water to keep the soil moist. Watering once in two weeks during droughty spells is sufficient. This cactus is very attractive as a potted plant, and outside should be given some shade.
Showy Pincushion Cactus (Coryphantha aggregata)
(Named from the plant’s habit of growing in clumps)
How to identify and how it grows
This plant is a fine and showy Pincushion cactus growing from single stems or in clumps, six to fifteen inches in diameter across the top of the clump, the stems globose or cylindrical, two to four inches in diameter. The tubercles are arranged spirally in fifteen to seventeen rows, with twenty to forty radially placed spines in two series like the teeth of a comb. They are less than a half-inch long. There are six central spines in the more mature plants, and all the spines are of a translucent white, toning into the reddish brown tips. The flowers are very showy and are formed around the center of the plant, two or three inches in diameter and bright pink to rose-purple. They remain open all day, and are quite abundant in southeastern Arizona and New Mexico on prairie lands and bajadas.
How to grow
Plants grow outside and are not injured by temperatures as low as zero. They grow easily from seed in sandy or clay loam in flats or pots with some shade; transplant at any season in almost any soil; give enough water to keep the soil moist during dry spells, about five gallons of water at a time.