HD Cactus Update #1: It's Gymnocalycium friedrichii!

According to Cultivar 3 (25) the scientific name of this cactus is still Gymnocalycium mihanovichii var. friedrichii. G. friedrichii is just as good a synonym in the mean time seeing as how someone already tried to re-name it that and it may very well be it's own species, not a variant of another.

There's discussion on G. mihanovichii, friedrichii, and stenopleurum being distinctly separate species based on flower color, (yellow, pink, white, respectively) but with so many intermediate forms there's also some basis to combine them into one highly variable species. I don't know if anyone is studying these right now or not, but hopefully someone will be able to figure it out. It is a mess to try and do any research online with people calling them different names and substituting one for another (unless they are all the same, in which case it just makes things more complicated.) If I was a taxonomist this would totally be my project, that's all I know.

Well, based on what information is out there at least for now I can say for a fact what my cactus is. I'm on the lookout for a stenopleurum too just because white flowers are my thing, but it's hard to find one that's guaranteed to bloom white unless it's already mature, which usually means $$$.

Now, on to some pictures!

I Love it!

Flower close-up

From the side

This one is officially my second favorite cactus. It's flowers are exactly my favorite color, it's got a red colored body, and huge spines. Not bad for a cheap Home Depot cactus!