I just purchased this yesterday. The flowers were beautiful! I'd love to know if anyone has the ID for it. That would help me know how cold hardy it is and which spot to pick for it.

Just a guess: Parodia werneri

Thanks, Daisy. Are all former Notocactus now Parodia's? Can you give me a link to one? All of the the Parodia werneri's that I'm seeing have hot pink blooms.

I can't help with the ID (nice plant, nice flowers, not one I recognize), but I can shed some light on the question about names. The genus Parodia absorbed a few other genera when the related cacti (which were distinguished primarily based on different seed types, as I understand it) were determined to be too similar to be separate. Among those genera are Notocactus, Eriocactus, and others. So what used to be Notocactus became Parodia, and you're right, Karen.

This was as of a few years ago. I don't know what may have happened in the intervening years. My reference is dated 2001 and there is a comment to the effect that if two additional related genera are also reduced to synonymy (Blossfeldia and Frailea), the whole apple cart has to be renamed Frailea because that name is older than Parodia.

Thanks for that, Baja. Previous to getting back into gardening, I was into malacology. The shell names changed even faster than the plant names. They were impossible to keep up with.

I hope this one can have a positive ID, at least for now!

Thanks Baja.... See my eyes rolling in circles?

There is a yellow version of Parodia werneri but its unusual and I'm not sure your flowers match. It would be good to see what the inside of the flower looks like as Parodia/Notocactus....Whatever... are distinctive.

Daisy

Darn, I found it late, Daisy, and the flowers are pretty much gone. I'll get a good pic the next time it blooms. I think there is one bud left to bloom.

WOW! My major in college before I realized I would starve to death being a Marine Biologist so switched to business. Fickle!

I worked on a key for limpets on the west coast back in the late '60's and had to start over when I realized the color of their antenna were key to their identity (I had eaten them as I collected them ). Poor judgement on my part. I was part of the crew that discovered Dentaliums were still alive and well in the coastal waters off Tomales Bay. I let my field partner take credit as I was driving the boat and he was working the dredge. It was pretty exciting.

Daisy

Very neat, Daisy. We lived in the Marshall Islands for 12 years, and several of our friends were Marine Biologists. We helped them with their finds. I was good at finding nudibranchs during our dives. I once found one that wasn't known in the Marshalls so it was the basis of a big paper in a tech journal. The Marshalls had fantastic fish, shells and invertebrates. I really miss the boating and diving and fresh fish we caught on the way to and from our dives. Our favorite spots for Cali diving were the Channel Islands.

I'm from Northern California so spent my time at the Tomales Bay Station. Those PhD's were starving - I met the tourist fishing boats every after noon and talked blurry eyed fishmen out of their catch. They were dreaming of swordfish and marlin but were catching angel sharks and rock cod. I was also raiding the dredge for sand dabs. I fed them for two summers and then changed my major.

It still sounded like a good life while it lasted! We did some dredging for shells, and loved our time on and under the water. We caught the big tunas mostly. That was the best fresh fish! Even the island cats dined better than we do now. LOL.

The biologists we knew ended up in other fields too. They were in It work on the island and just did their fun stuff during their free time. They made underwater videos and wrote books and papers. They are about to retire, mostly to the Santa Barbara area where they will continue diving and investigating. They are also avid gardeners, so we always love getting together.

Thanks for going WAY off topic with me.

Back on topic for a minute. Did your cactus have a label saying Notocactus? I was just wondering how you arrived there. It does look like my Notocactus/Parodia.

Look at one called Parodia oxycostata. It has yellow flowers and turns red when in the sun.

Daisy

Ha, yes, off topic, but fun! Maybe the Sandbox forum needs a water lovers group.

My cactus did have a tag just saying Notocactus. I looked at Parodia oxycostata and don't know if it's the correct one. The info for it said it had 6 to 7 ribs which are very angular. This one has 11 ribs on each one, and they aren't super angular. The coloration also seems like a much darker green on mine, but that could be due to growing conditions.