Description

Ariocarpus Kotschoubeyanus v. Elephantidens Cactus Seeds

This is the southern form of the species, the plants are much larger with larger, highly textured, triangulate tubercles, and a deep purple flower with little or no white content. This species start flowering when still young.

Commonly called “living rocks,” Ariocarpus cacti are edaphic specialist plants widely distributed in and around the edges of the Chihuahuan Desert. They are scattered in a large number of small, isolated populations, generally on limestone derived gypsum silt plains and on hills. The area where they grow must be quite wet during the rainy season (Summer). Some of these areas become flooded periodically during the summer rainy season.

These plants are extremely cryptic and are very difficult to spot as they blend in well with the terrain around them resembling dried mud. When they are found, it is usually due to their pinkish flowers. In times of severe drought the whole above-ground portion of these plants can shrink and be covered by mud, but the taproot remains alive. The main threats to this species are human settlements, waste dumps, illegal collecting, and local medicinal uses. Some localities have been partly depleted by illegal collectors.

Ariocarpus kotschoubeyanus v. albiflorus found here.

Ariocarpus kotschoubeyanus found here.