Cactus Rebutia: description of species and plant care

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The genus Rebutia includes 41 species of cacti. In the wild, these plants are found mainly in Argentina, Peru and Bolivia, and in indoor culture they are grown everywhere due to their ease of care and fairly compact size.

Some types of Rebutia cactus are so miniature that they are often used in the preparation of floristic succulent compositions.

Rebutia cactus flowering and home care (with photo)

Rebutia is another extremely sun-loving genus of cacti.

As a result of research by taxonomists, this genus has also recently increased greatly: in addition to Rebutius proper, it certainly includes groups that were previously considered independent genera:

Aylostera (Aylostera) .

Mediolobivia (Mediolobivia) .

DigitoRebutia (Digitorebutia) , and in addition, some experts refer to it, which is no doubt, SulcoRebutia (Sulcorebutia) and Weingartia (Weingartia).

These are all relatively small cacti with predominantly spherical stems and bristle-like spines. Most of these cacti, branching at the base, quickly form dense curtains. Rebutia flowers also appear close to the base of the stem (only in Weingartia they form closer to the top of the stem).

Look at the photo of Rebutia during the flowering period:

In good conditions, many flowers open, they can cover the whole plant, and, in addition, after mass flowering in spring, more and more flowers appear during summer and autumn. They are quite large (relative to the size of the stem), bright – all shades of yellow, red, pink in several species – white.

Rebutia flowering of most species begins at an early age, some bloom as early as the second year of life.

Caring for Rebutia is simple, as these are undemanding plants, the main thing for them is one light and a cool, dry winter. They are easily propagated by sowing and rooting side shoots.

For permanent keeping on the windowsill, these cacti are not very suitable (like Parodies), but, unlike the latter, they will still bloom normally, although not as plentifully as in the sun.

When caring for a Rebutia cactus, be prepared for the fact that in room culture these plants are somewhat elongated and do not produce characteristic brightly colored and strong spines. Like parodies, they are not suitable for phytodesign. Rebutias are one of those cacti that are the first to fall prey to the red flat mite.

Description of the types of cactus Rebutia

Next, you can find a photo and description of Rebutia of various types.

Actually Rebutius is not so much. The “oldest” of them, known since the last century, Rebutia minuscula (R. minuscula), is small, flattened-spherical, with short whitish spines. Plants of this species bloom easily, at an early age, with rather large (up to 4 cm in diameter) bright red flowers.

As you can see in the photo, in Rebutia minsukula, in place of each flower, a red button berry with a large number (more than a hundred) of rather large shiny black seeds is formed without cross-pollination:

The latter crumble easily, and if they are not collected, the next year the plant is surrounded by a whole army of seedlings standing close to each other, each with a pinhead.

With decent care for Rebutia at home, the seedlings are unusually tenacious, they are easy to transplant and get new plants. It is thanks to this that Rebutia minuscula has become one of the most common cacti in culture, and collectors have practically lost interest in it.

Approximately the same thing happened with Rebutia senilis (R. senilis). Found in the ZSTs of the 20th century, it was considered one of the most beautiful cacti and immediately attracted the attention of cactus growers: its unusually long (3 cm or more) numerous thin snow-white spines successfully combine with fiery-bright flowers of various shades of red.

The popular plant has been propagated so intensively, with thoughtless selection and hybridization, that the culture is now inundated with “mongrel forms” and the typical R. senilis has become an extraordinary rarity.

But a very peculiar variety of it has been preserved – Kesselrlingiana (R. s kesselringiana) – with slightly yellowish spines.

Pay attention to the photo – this Rebutia cactus has light green buds and lemon yellow flowers:

Both Rebutia minuscula and Rebutia senilis are represented by numerous forms, many of which were previously known as independent species. At the same time, botanists combine these two Rebutias into a single biological species-R. minuscula.

Much rarer and retaining their natural originality are Rebutia, which set seeds only when pollinated, primarily R. krainziana (Kraintsiana). The splendor of its bright green stem with large snow-white areoles and tiny, almost imperceptible spines is complemented by large blood-red flowers.

Another spectacular Rebutia – R. marsoneri (marsoneri) is decorated with golden spines and bright yellow flowers. In the modern system, these two Rebutias are also combined under the name R. marsoneri.

Representatives of the Ailoster group are more numerous and diverse among the Rebutia cacti.

The most famous and conspicuous of these are R. albiflora (albiflora), a profusely branching miniature plant, covered with soft, short white hairs and blooming in early spring with elegant white flowers.

R. fiebrigii (fibrigii), which combines an incredible number of diverse forms, which are characterized by the presence of many long needle-like spines of various colors and medium-sized orange-red flowers.

R. muscula (muscle) – small and densely covered with white bristles (for which it received the Latin name, translated as “mouse”).

The most remarkable in this group is R. heliosa (heliosis). Its low stems, growing with lateral shoots, form groups similar to corals.

At the same time, the shoots are so tightly wrapped with tiny silvery spines that they resemble the cocoons of a fantastic butterfly. This cactus is always beautiful, but when bright orange long-tubular flowers appear on it in abundance (several dozen at the same time), it is impossible to take your eyes off it. In recent years, several dozens of previously unknown aylosteras have been found in nature, and this group never ceases to amaze cacti lovers of rich forms.

Only one species is currently attributed to a small group of medial lobbies, but what a one! This is R. einsteinii (named after Albert Einstein), which combines many very different forms – different sizes, elongated and spherical, with multi-colored spines of different sizes (from 5 mm to 5 cm).

Look at the photo of Rebutius of this species – they have large, wide-opening flowers, usually orange-yellow in color, but sometimes red in different shades:

In terms of external diversity, digitorebutia are not much inferior to Ailostera. All digitorebutia are almost dwarf plants, forming groups of small dense shoots with powerful, thickened roots.

The most famous are R. rudtaea (pygmea) with short spines adjacent to the stem and flowers of various shades (from white and yellow to all pink-violet-red).

And R. ritteri (ritteri), whose longer spines bulge in all directions, and the flowers are in most cases orange-red.

An extraordinary natural diversity is characteristic of SulcoRebutia (Sulcorebutia). These plants are less common and often more difficult to cultivate than the rest of the Rebutia. Therefore, they can often be found in a grafted state.

Of the most noticeable and widespread in culture, one cannot fail to name Rebutia (Sulcorebutia) rauschii (rauschii), the tubercles and ribs on the tiny stems of which are almost smoothed, and these rounded shoots are usually black-green or purple-green in color.

Short spines – Rebutia (sulcoRebutia) of the spider’s rauch are pressed to the surface of the stem. The flowers of this unusual plant are lilac.

Finally, the Weingarts, the most peculiar of its representatives, also belong to the Rebutius group. They are larger than other Rebutias – up to 15 cm in height, their stems are large-tuberous, the spines are more powerful and long.

Flowers, on the contrary, are smaller than those of other members of the genus, with a short tube and appear near the top of the stem. In general, the well-known Weingarts are quite similar to each other. The most common of these is Rebutia (Weingartia) neocumingi (neokumingi), a large bright green spherical plant with bright yellow flowers.

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