Petar43 · CC BY-SA 4.0
About
A popular South American cactus, *Parodia leninghausii* is known by common names such as lemon ball cactus or golden ball cactus. It is notable for its thin golden spines and its ability to form columnar structures up to 1 meter tall.
Field notes
Morphology
The young plants are globular, developing into columnar forms up to 1m tall with a diameter of 12 cm and approximately 30 ribs. The species features thin golden spines, and adult plants (at least 20 cm tall) produce yellow flowers, which reach a diameter of 5 cm. Old plants tend to cluster from the base. A white-spined cultivar, *albispina*, is also available.
Distribution & habitat
Native to northeast Rio Grande do Sul in the south of Brazil, where it thrives on rocky outcrops and cliff faces in regions that experience cold winter nights and ample year-round precipitation.
Cultivation notes
It requires well-drained soil and sunny exposure, needing regular watering in summer and none in winter. It tolerates frost down to -4 °C (25 °F) if kept completely dry, though it prefers cold temperatures above 2 °C (36 °F).
History & etymology
Named by Karl Moritz Schumann after Wilhelm Lenninghaus, a native of North Rhine-Westphalia who collected cacti in Brazil. The species has undergone several taxonomic changes, being successively included in genera such as *Pilocereus*, *Malacocarpus*, *Notocactus*, *Eriocactus*, before settling in *Parodia*.
Habitat
- Altitude
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- Altitude Class
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Cultivation
- Difficulty
- easy
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