''Parodia leninghausii'' is a species of

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

cactus A cactus (, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1750 known species of the order Caryophyllales. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Greek ...

commonly found as a

houseplant A houseplant, sometimes known as a pot plant, potted plant, or an indoor plant, is an ornamental plant that is grown indoors. As such, they are found in places like residences and offices, mainly for decorative purposes. Common houseplants are us ...

. Common names include lemon ball cactus, golden ball cactus and yellow tower cactus. Botanist

Karl Moritz Schumann Karl Moritz Schumann (17 June 1851 – 22 March 1904) was a German botanist. Schumann was born in Görlitz. He was curator of the Botanisches Museum in Berlin-Dahlem from 1880 until 1894. He also served as the first chairman of the ''Deutsc ...

named it after Wilhelm Lenninghaus (1845-1918),Note: His name was Lenninghaus, but the species is ''leninghausii'' without the double "n". a native of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...

who, in the 1880s, left his hometown of

Ennepetal Ennepetal (; wep, Iämpedal) is a town in the district of Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was created in 1949 out of the former municipalities Milspe and Voerde. It was named after the river Ennepe, which flows through t ...

and emigrated to

Porto Alegre Porto Alegre (, , Brazilian ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of 1,488,252 inhabitants (2020) makes it the List of largest cities in Brazil, twelfth most populous city in the country ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, where he became Guillermo Lenninghaus, and collected cacti for the German grower Haage. ''Parodia leninghausii'' is native to the

Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, , ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative_units_of_Brazil#List, fifth-most-populous state and the List of Brazilian st ...

province in the south of

. In those regions, winter nights are cold, with a light freeze. These cacti survive in these conditions because they are quite dry at that time. ''Parodia leninghausii'' shows cactus species nomadism; it was successively included in genus '' Pilocereus'' K. Schumann 1895, ''

Malacocarpus ''Parodia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cactaceae, native to the eastern slopes of the Andes in northwestern Argentina and southwestern Bolivia and in the lowland pampas regions of northeastern Argentina, southern Brazil, eastern ...

'' (K.Schumann) Britton & Rose 1922, '' Notocactus'' (K.Schumann) A.Berger 1929, '' Eriocactus'' (K.Schumann) Backeberg 1942, and finally ended up in ''

Parodia ''Parodia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cactaceae, native to the eastern slopes of the Andes in northwestern Argentina and southwestern Bolivia and in the lowland pampas regions of northeastern Argentina, southern Brazil, eastern ...

'' (K. Schumann) F.H.Brandt 1982.

Description

The species have many thin golden spines. The young plants are globular, then columnar up to 1m tall, 12 cm diameter and about 30 ribs. Old plants cluster from the base. Flowers are yellow, 5 cm diameter, at the top of the plants, but only if adult (at least 20 cm tall) Sometimes, they present monstruous forms. There is a cultivar ''albispina'' with white spines.

Cultivation

Like most cacti, ''Parodia leninghausii'' needs well drained soil, sunny exposure, regular watering in summer and no watering in winter. In temperate climates, it may be placed outside in a warm sunny position during the summer months. In winter the plant tolerates frost at if kept totally dry. In cultivation, it is preferable to keep a cold temperature, but more than This plant has won the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nort ...

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established annual award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. History The Award of Garden Merit ...

. File:Parodia leninghausii (Lemon ball), Huntington.jpg, Lemon ball cluster,

Huntington Desert Garden The Huntington Desert Garden is part of The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California. The Desert Garden is one of the world's largest and oldest collections of cacti, succulents and other desert plants, c ...

File:Leninghausii 0086.JPG, Flowers File:Parodia leninghausii 18.JPG, The flower of ''Parodia leninghausii'' File:Parodia leninghausii 7.JPG, The seeds of ''Parodia leninghausii'' File:Parodia leninghausii 31 fioritura autunnale.JPG, The autumnal flowering of ''Parodia leninghausii'' in Rome

References

Sources

* Anderson, Edward F. (2001) ''The Cactus Family'' Timber Press, Portland, Oregon, pp. 544–545,

External links

* *
Photos on www.AIAPS.org
*
photos on www.cactiguide.com

IPNI Listing

Kew Plant List
{{Taxonbar, from=Q143021 leninghausii Flora of Brazil Garden plants