Angiosperms (Flowering Plants) • Earth.com

Powder puff cactus

(Parodia nivosa)

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en

Description

Parodia nivosa is a species of plant in the genus Parodia in the cactus family (Cactaceae). The specific epithet nivosa comes from Latin, means 'full of snow' and refers to the white spines of the species. Parodia nivosa grows singly. The cloudy green spherical to short cylindrical shoots reach stature heights of up to 15 centimeters and a diameter of 8 centimeters. The apex of the shoot is densely covered with white wool. The up to 21 ribs are arranged in a spiral and are divided into conical humps. The areoles located on them are white. The four white central spines are straight and bristly. They have a length of up to 2 centimeters. The about 18 finely bristly radial spines are white and 1.5 to 1.8 centimeters long. The bright red to dark red flowers reach diameters of 2.5 to 3 centimeters and lengths of up to 3 centimeters. Your pericarpel and the flower tube are covered with wool and bristles. The scars are light yellow. The initially pink spherical fruits turn gray when ripe. They have diameters of 3 to 5 millimeters. The fruits contain glossy brown (or black?) seeds 0.5 millimeters long that are smooth or slightly textured.

Taxonomic tree:

Domain:
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum:
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order:Caryophyllales
Family:Cactaceae
Genus:Parodia
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