Columnar Cacti - Micranthocereus

Micranthocereus

For an excellent review of the genus from Brazil see the lead article in the BCSS journal for March 2002 by Graham Charles.

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Micranthocereus auri-azureus: Grao Mogol Brazil 950m.	Micranthocereus sp; flowers similar but not exact to M. densiflorus. Photo in shade and sunny flowering plant.

Copyright Bob Ressler, no reproduction without permission of the author.

Micranthocereus flaviflorus

Micranthocerei come from Brazil and are relatively easy plants to cultivate providing they are given a little extra heat during the winter - say a minimum of 10 degrees centigrade. They form clumps of small stems and will flower at a relatively small size. The flowers are not very large but compensate by being produced in large numbers. They appreciate full sun and in the UK seem to flower either late autumn or early spring. The plant illustrated was growing outside in a nursery on Teneriffe (Canary Islands) - it was obviously appreciating the black volcanic ash which largely made up the soil in which it was growing. (Photo AWM)