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Origin and Habitat: Doña Ana and Sierra counties, San Andres Mountains and Fra Cristobal Range, New Mexico, USA.
Habitat: It grows in gravelly benches or rocks on limestone or igneous soil in the interior Chaparral among desert scrub and open oak and piñon-juniper communities.
Altitude: 1300-2300 m.
Chihuahuan Desert region.
- Escobaria sandbergii Castetter, P.Pierce & K.H.Schwer.
ENGLISH: San Andres Mountain Foxtail Cactus, San Andres pincushion cactus, Sandberg's pincushion cactus
Description: Escobaria sandbergii is a tiny succulent completely covered be dense spines usually forming clusters of few heads but occasionally solitary or clustered with up to 20 or more stems.
Stems: Cylindrical, densely spiny, 5-12(-15) cm high, 2-4(-7) cm in diameter.
Tubercles: 5-12 mm long, conical, on mature stems with grooves most or all of their lengths.
Spines: Approximatively 20-60 per areole, spreading, typically whitish, often with dark tips, fading to grey as they ages.
Radial spines: 23-55, slender, bristle-like, white, 5-10 mm long.
Central spines: Thicker, often darker 6-20, white with, to 25(-30) mm long.
Flowers: Light to medium pink, 3-15 mm long, 17-25 mm in diameter, usually failing to open widely and often very small. Tepals pale creamy-yellow, pinkish or whitish, with darker midrveins. Stigmas white to pink.
Blooming season: Spring ( April and May in its habitat).
Fruits: Green or yellowish green to somewhat reddish, 8-20 mm long.
Seeds: 1 mm long, kidney-shaped, pitted, brown, with hilum lateral.
Notes: Escobaria sandbergii is easily confused with some of its closest and often very similar relatives. Among them Escobaria sneedii and Escobaria sneedii var. leei are more densely clustering, Escobaria organensis and Escobaria villardii has more darker spines, Escobaria tuberculosa has more richly coloured flowers that open widely, fruits that ripen bright red, and seeds that are smaller and rounder and Escobaria orcuttii that has shorter cental spines. Although the population of Escobaria sandbergii is geographically distinct as a whole, it may be difficult to assign some plants in the population to a specific taxon without the aid of geographic information.
Bibliography: Major references and further lectures
1) David Hunt, Nigel Taylor “The New Cactus Lexicon” DH Books, 2006 ISBN 0953813444, 9780953813445
2) Edward F. Anderson “The Cactus Family” Timber Press, 2001
3) James Cullen, Sabina G. Knees, H. Suzanne Cubey “The European Garden Flora Flowering Plants: A Manual for the Identification of Plants Cultivated in Europe, Both Out-of-Doors and Under Glass” Cambridge University Press, 11/ago/2011
4) David Hunt, Nigel Taylor “The New Cactus Lexicon” DH Books, 2006 ISBN 0953813444, 9780953813445
5) New Mexico Native Plant Protection Advisory Committee “A handbook of rare and endemic plants of New Mexico” University of New Mexico Press, 1984
6) Theodore B. Hodoba, Mimi Kamp “Growing desert plants: from windowsill to garden” Red Crane Books, 01/dic/1995
7) Castetter, E.F., P. Pierce and K.H. Schwerin. 1975. "Reassessment of the genus Escobaria." Cactus and Succulent Journal (U.S.) 47(2):60-70.
8) Flora of North America Editorial Committee. 2003. "Flora of North America", volume 4. Oxford University Press, New York.
9) New Mexico Native Plants Protection Advisory Committee. 1984."A handbook of rare and endemic plants of New Mexico." University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.
Cultivation and Propagation: Escobaria sandbergii is an easy to grow succulent, more cold tolerant than most and less fussy regarding soil conditions.
Growth rate: It is a small growing but easily flowering species that will make clumps given the best conditions.
Soils: It likes very porous standard cactus mix soil.
Repotting: Use pot with good drainage.
Watering: Water regularly in summer, but do not overwater (Rot prone), keep dry in winter.
Fertilization: Feed with a high potassium fertilizer in summer.
Hardiness: Reputedly somewhat resistant to frost if kept on the dry side prior to, and during, cold weather (hardy to -12 C ° C, or less for short periods).
Exposition: Outside bright sun but tolerates filtered sunlight or afternoon shade, inside it needs bright light, and some direct sun. Strong light encourages flowering and heavy spine production.
Uses: It is an excellent plant for container growing. It always looks good and stays small. It look fine in a cold greenhouse and frame or outdoor in a rockery.
Pests & diseases: It may be attractive to a variety of insects, but plants in good condition should be nearly pest-free, particularly if they are grown in a mineral potting-mix, with good exposure and ventilation. Nonetheless, there are several pests to watch for:
- Red spiders: Red spiders may be effectively rubbed up by misting the vulnerable plants every day
- Mealy bugs: occasionally they develop aerial into the new growth among the wool with disfiguring results, but the worst types develop underground on the roots and are invisible except by their effects.
- Scales: Scales are rarely a problem.
- Rot: Rot it is only a minor problem with cacti if the plants are watered and “aired” correctly. If they are not, fungicides won't help all that much.
Propagation: Division, direct sow after last frost. Seeds germinate in 7-14 days at 21-27° C in spring, remove gradually the glass cover as soon the plants will be well rooted (ca. 1-2 weeks) and keep ventilated, no full sun for young plants! To make a cutting twist off a branch and permit it to dry out a couple of weeks, lay it on the soil and insert the stem end partially into the soil. Try to keep the cutting somewhat upright so that the roots are able to grow downward.
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