Some cacti have stories as interesting as the plants themselves. A few of our favorites:
The cactus that hid for 44 years
Mammillaria luethyi was known for decades from a single plant seen growing in a coffee can in Mexico in 1952. Nobody could find it in the wild. It was finally rediscovered in habitat in 1996 — a tiny plant with soft, starburst spines and large magenta flowers that's now a favorite in collections.
From fortune to affordable: Astrophytum caput-medusae
In 2001, a cactus turned up in Nuevo León, Mexico, that didn't look like any Astrophytum anyone had seen: no ribs, just long, snake-like tubercles growing from a short stem. It was so strange it was first described in its own genus. Early plants sold for staggering prices. Then growers started grafting seedlings onto fast rootstocks, seed production took off, and today it's within reach of ordinary collectors. It's a great example of cultivation taking pressure off wild populations.
Grafting: the shortcut collectors argue about
Slow species like Ariocarpus and Aztekium can take a decade or more to reach flowering size on their own roots. Grafted onto Pereskiopsis — a leafy, fast-growing cactus relative — tiny seedlings can grow several times faster and reach decent size in a few years. Many purists then cut them off the graft and reroot them so they develop the compact, natural shape the species is known for. Some love grafting; others think it produces bloated, unnatural plants. Both sides have a point.
Hard-grown vs. soft-grown
The same tension shows up in how plants are grown. Hard-grown plants get a lean, mostly mineral mix, strong sun and careful watering. They grow slowly but look like they do in habitat: compact, well-spined, tough. Soft-grown plants get richer soil, more water and less sun. They grow fast and lush but can look stretched and are more prone to rot. Growing in the Sonoran Desert, our plants lean firmly toward hard-grown.
Super Kabuto and the Japanese cultivars
Japanese growers have spent decades selecting Astrophytum asterias for dramatic white flecking. 'Super Kabuto' is the most famous result, with dense white patches that can nearly cover the plant. Accounts of its origin vary, but most trace it back to a single unusual plant found around 1981 that Japanese growers then bred from. From there came countless pattern types, variegated forms, and the high-dollar crests collectors chase today. For a full rundown, see our guide to Astrophytum cultivars.
A few oddities
- Blossfeldia liliputana, the world's smallest cactus, can dry out almost completely and rehydrate like a moss.
- Melocactus stops growing its body once it forms a cephalium — the woolly cap where flowers appear. From then on, only the cap grows.
- The cactus moth (Cactoblastis cactorum) was a hero in Australia in the 1920s, when it cleared millions of acres of invasive prickly pear. It has since reached the southeastern US, where it threatens native Opuntia.