Ferocactus chrysacanthus
Ferocactus chrysacanthus
| Ferocactus
chrysacanthus is a golden spined (chrysa=golden;canthus=spined)
barrel cactus that sometimes occurs with red spines. The flowers are
typically yellow, although the color can range to orange. The plant
is very densely spined and because of that, will tolerate full sun here in
Tucson. (That's 11,000+ foot candles-great for densely spined cacti,
but the second highest incidence of skin cancer in the world!)
F. chrysacanthus only occurs naturally on the island of Cedros, off the west coast of northern Baja California and possibly on a neighboring island, West San Benitos, with some reports of it on the adjacent peninsula.
This is somewhat of a slow growing species. The plant
pictured above is about 15 years old and about ten inches in diameter,
although it has been flowering for several years. The seeds germinate
readily.. Plants several years old are cold tolerant to at least the
mid-twenties F. |
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