Nature is very rich in unusual and rare plants. Cacti themselves are very extraordinary representatives of the flora, able to inhabit even in the most extreme conditions. But even among them one can distinguish very unusual species. Some of them are poisonous, dangerous or so capricious that it will never occur to anyone to breed them at home.
The most unusual and rare species of cacti
One of the unusual and unique cacti is the "Agave" or "American aloe" with its straight and finger-shaped processes that depart from the main stem. They end in groups of thorns, growing into an intricate cobweb-like network. Its uniqueness is that after the formation of the shoots, the "Agave" no longer changes its shape, but only becomes stronger and wider, while most cacti either produce offspring or grow "hands".
Another interesting cactus - "Ariocarpus" or "Living stones", cactus without spines. It grows incredibly slowly, growing in 50 years only up to 10 cm in diameter. During the sprouting season, these cacti have soft spines, but as they grow, they fall off. As a defense, instead of spines, they use psychoactive substances, and they also grow in hard-to-reach places.
"Astrophytum" or "Head of Medusa" grows in the form of snake hair, as the name implies. The flowers of this cactus are very noteworthy - they are bright yellow with a red center. Seeds of "Astrophytum" are very large - up to 6 mm.
"Peyote" or "Lofofor Williams" because of the powerful psychedelic effect is forbidden to cultivation, except for Indian tribes using the plant in their rituals.
One of the rare cacti is Discocactus . It is very difficult to grow at home, because few people decide this. In this cactus blossom incredibly beautiful. Growing up, they produce "cephalic", thickly studded with spines, from which later appear large flowers of white color.
"Gilotsereus wavy" blossoms simply with huge flowers. Its length reaches 35 cm, diameter - 23 cm. And it blooms only at night, each flower on it opens only once, after which it sheds seeds, becomes a food or dies. Vanilla fragrance of the flower is very powerful and can be simply unbearable when inhaled.
In Pereskiopsis, leaves and spines grow from the same points. This cactus grows very quickly, but is rarely used for flowering or for decorative purposes. More often it serves as a vaccine base for accelerating the growth of seedlings of other slow-growing species of cacti.
A very unusual cactus - "Turbinicarpus underground" . Outwardly, it looks original, as its fleshy part is as if raised above the ground on a high thin foot. The main surprise is waiting for you under the ground - there are large, knobby roots, not inferior in size to the stems above the surface. They accumulate a lot of moisture and help the plant survive a severe drought.
Obregony, also known as cactus artichoke or Leuchtenberg, grows in a geophysical fashion: trihedral and fleshy processes of its body curl at the base of the stem, which gives the plant a resemblance to artichoke. After flowering on the tops of "Obregony" fleshy edible fruits are formed.
"Blossfeldia dwarf" grows in the rocks of the Andes and is the smallest cactus in the world. The largest specimen reached 13 mm in diameter. Its name he received in honor of the country of the Lilliputians in the book about Gulliver. After self-fertilization, "Blossfeldia" produces seeds that are so small that they merge with sand and other rocks around. Most often the cactus has rounded growth points, while the "Blossfield" grows from the depression in the center of the plant.
