Golden rat tail

Description

Cleistocactus winteri is a succulent of the family Cactaceae. Its common name is the golden rat tail. Cleistocactus winteri subsp. colademono, as its synonym Cleistocactus colademononis, has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. This plant is a columnar cactus that forms huge tangled mounds of fairly rapid growth, up to 90 centimetres (35 in) high with stems 6 centimetres (2+1⁄4 in) in diameter and 16 to 17 ribs, with 50 spines 0.4 to 1 centimetre (1⁄8 to 3⁄8 in) long. It has many short bristly golden spines that literally cover the surface of the stems. The plant requires water during the summer and to be kept dry in the winter. It reproduces by seeds and cuttings. It has salmon-pink flowers in spring and summer that are 4 to 6 centimetres (1+1⁄2 to 2+1⁄4 in) long and 5 centimetres (2 in) in diameter. Its flowers survive for a few days before transitioning to fruit for a short period of time which are 1 centimetre (3⁄8 in) long.