Cacti produce surprisingly beautiful flowers. What is even more amazing, perhaps, is the size that the flowers can attain in relation to the body of the plant. I have a Lobivia famatimensis that is no more than 3 cm. tall and has about the same diameter, yet its flowers are 3.5 cm in diameter. Seven of these flowers are currently in bloom, a wonderful golden yellow, hiding the plant itself, and there are 14 buds altogether! How on earth can such a little plant support so many flowers?
The stem of the Lobivia is quite a sight, too: it is more purple than anything else, and has the tiniest spines, arranged neatly around the areole at the tip of each tubercle, which is no more than a couple of millimetres across. Here's an extreme closeup of the stem of the cactus.
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