Description of Turbinicarpus roseiflorus

Translated from the German
Body subspherical, 35-40 mm wide, 25-30 mm high, with copiously branching fibrous roots, divided into rhombic, prominent tubercles, in anti-clockwise diagonal spirals, dark green. Areoles round, white wooled, later becoming naked. 6-8 white radial spines from the lower half of the areole, radiating sideways porrect, dagger-like, 3-5 mm long. 3-4 Radial spines from the upper half of the areole, porrect and curving towards the apex, 10-15 mm long, black. 1 central spine, porrect, slightly curved towards the apex, the lower part 1,5 mm wide flattened, black. Flower funnel-shaped, 25 mm long, 20 mm wide, internal petals spatulate pointed, pink, with dark mid-stripe on the reverse. Outer petals below greenish, becoming paler towards the top, with brownish pink mid-stripe, ending in a short dark brown tip. Filaments greenish, anthers yellow. Style white with 4 short white club-shaped lobes Fruit oblong, to 5 mm long, at maturity brownish and dehising vertically. Seeds cap shaped, 1 x 0,7 mm. Testa covered with flat round tubercles, becoming smaller and flatter towards the hilum, black.

Locality: Mexico, exact place of discovery unknown.

Description from Backeberg's Cactus Lexicon.
Body simple, dull green, broadly sub-spherical, ca. 4 cm Ø Crown white-woolly; Ribs consisting of transversely extended, rather prominent tubercles, these 4-sided or rounded below, or the surface irregularly flattened or ± angular, also with a transverse furrow between the tubercle, this ± flattened above and below; Radial spines on young plants to ca. 10(?12), either light horn-colour and darker above, or whitish, to black-tipped, sometimes concolorous white, radiating sideways, later sometimes fewer, unequal, very short, to ca. 5 mm long; Central spines 1 at first, later also 2, one above the other, curving towards the apex, mostly twice as long as the longest radial spine, black; Flower ca. 2.5 cm long, concolorous pink, funnelform; Petals tapering, with a red mid-line outside; Sepals shorter, with a broad, brownish central field; Fruit. ?

Locality: México.

Closely related to T. lophophoroides, but spines more numerous, Flower concolorous pink, opening less widely. Plants seen in the collection of Saint-Pie, Asson (France, Basses-Pyrénêes).

Notes

Most plants found in cultivation under this name would appear to be of hybrid origin. Possibly between T. lophophoroides and one of the dark spined species previously included in Gymnocactus i.e. gielsdorfianus or viereckii. All of the plants which I have seen and the ones in my possession have variable spination and also variable amounts of wool in the areoles. There is also a white flowered "variety" of this plant, T. roseiflorus var. albiflorus n.n. There are a few specimens of the true "St. Pie" plant which exist in European collections.

References

• Succulenta 72(1):42, 1993
• Cactus Lexicon by Curt Backeberg

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