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tubular, zygomorphic (lop sided, a bit like a Christmas cactus) flowers, which look really wrong on small, round cacti. M. roseo-alba has white spines and pastel pink flowers. M. madisonorum is the only one you seem to see in garden centres. It has grey stems with few ribs and sometimes has three spines to each areol, baring a strong resemblance to Lophophora. Its flowers are red (but there's a white flowered form).

Blossfeldia are the smallest of all cacti (although Frailea and Turbinicarpus come close). They are spineless with tuberous roots and a tendency to produce seeds without opening their whitish flowers. Not the easiest cacti to grow!

I'll end with some plants for warm climates or centrally heated homes. Melocactus are cantaloupe-sized cacti with straight ribs. As small plants they look like pretty typical cacti but then they grow a very hairy and spiny bit on the top (called a terminal cephalium) from which they produce their small flowers. Discocactus are smaller cephalium-producing cacti with large white flowers that open at night. Buiningia are similar to Melocactus but have lateral cephalia (on the side of the stem). Uebelmania are weird looking and have yellow flowers.

I hope this inspires you to get some of these interesting and often beautiful plants. You can normally find some in garden centres and most will grow to flowering size in a few years from seeds.

Learn more about this author, Richard Pearman.
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