I love it when little plants that are easily overlooked suddenly shout out and make themselves known. Spinystar, Escobaria vivipara (syn. Coryphantha vivipara) could be heard loud and clear last week. We collected this single plant at Railroad Buttes in the Buffalo Gap National Grassland in May of 2010. It was a rainy year, and thick white gumbo clay made foot travel laborious, slippery, and frustrating. We collected about four inches of it on our shoes in the process of collecting the plants we did. This is one of the treasures that made fighting the sticky clay worthwhile.
True to its name, it is making a large number of little cactusettes around the lower part of its spherical body. Brad has already rooted them and we will be able to have a significant planting of this species before too long. It may be a great candidate for green roof gardening, too. I had never had the pleasure of noting its fragrance, but it has a very nice heavy, musky aroma. The contrast of the soft pink petals, bright orange stamens, and white stigma is nice.
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