One more flowering cactus of the summer past. I don't have many Gymnocalycium plants in my collection but find the ones I have quite interesting – especially the large flowers and the naked calyx are fascinating (the genus name Gymnocalycium comes from the Greek for "naked calyx"). 
Gymnocalycium calochlorum flower buds
I bought this Gymnocalycium calochlorum (Mina Clavero, Córdoba, Argentina) a couple of years ago and it has been growing in my coldhouse since. It is coping well in this environment and is showing off a wealth of flowers each summer.
Gymnocalycium calochlorum flower buds; close-up
The pale pink flowers with the burgundy throat are quite beautiful and almost hide the plant.
Flowering Gymnocalycium calochlorum
Bulletin trimestriel de la Société mycologique de France. v. 42 1926
(added: 08/11/2025)
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*By:*
Société mycologique de France.
*Publication Info:*
Paris :Société mycologique de France.
*Call Number:*
QK1 .S6584
*Contributing Library:*
Missouri...
2 days ago
I don't think I've seen a calochlorum with more than two flowers on the go, good work!
ReplyDeleteThanks. I have harvested one fruit from the plant and another is developing. I'm not absolutely sure about the first one but I know for certain that the second fruit is the result of self-pollination (I only have a few gymnos and no other plants were flowering when I hand pollinated the calochlorum flower using a cotton swab).
ReplyDeleteI'm not a very experienced Gymnocalycium grower and had expected the calochlorum to be self-sterile so the fruits are a happy surprise - I still have to see if the seeds are fertile, though ;-) Is self-fertility a common trait in Gymnocalycium?
I don't think so, both in my experience and from what I've read, few Gymno's seem to be self-fertile. Calochlorum may be an exception though, it seems to be one of those plants all too ready to produce seed pods when given half a chance.
ReplyDeleteThanks for clarifying this. As mentioned, I only have a handful of gymnos, the G. calochlorum that is the subject matter of this post, a couple of G. chubutense, and two plants that I think are G. horstii. I would like to grow more Gymnocalycium but as I'm growing the majority of my plants in an unheated greenhouse in Denmark, they would need to be fairly hardy - do you by any chance know what species are among the most cold hardy?
ReplyDeleteMy plants have survived several winters in the cold house, except the chubutense that I bought earlier this year from Kakteen-Haage.