Accepted Scientific Name: Escobaria lloydii Britton & Rose
Cactaceae (Britton & Rose) 4: 57. 1923 Britton & Rose
Coryphantha lloydii (Escobaria lloydii) Photo by: Valentino Vallicelli
Origin and Habitat: Mexico, South of Coahuila and North of Zacatecas (Type locality Sierra de la Zulaga).
Habitat: Mattoral microfilo and rosetofilo, on stony soil, gravely bajadas, silty flats; at moderate elevations in Chihuahuan Desert Mountains.
Synonyms:
Description: Small plants completely covered with spines, growing in clumps and and resembling a small species of Echinocereus.
Stem: Up to 7 cm tall, diameter 3,5 cm, branching from the base. Epidermis pale green.; old plants bearing naked corky tubercles.
Areoles: Roundish with white wool.
Radial spines: Approx 20 pure white, spreading, slender, up to 1 cm long.
Central spines: 4 to several, stout , 1,5 to 2,5 cm long white with brownish to blackish tip.
Flowers: 2.5 cm. Long, creamy-white or greenish eventually with a darker mid ribs on outside, filaments, style and stigma lobes greenish.
Fruits: Globular or ovoidal up to 12 mm long, red at maturity.
Seeds: Black, pitted, globose, 1 mm. in diameter.
Remarks: This species is near Escobaria tuberculosaSN|10187]]SN|10187]], but it has much stouter central spines and greenish white, eciliate inner perianth-segments.
Bibliography: Major references and further lectures
1) N. L. Britton, J. N. Rose “The Cactaceae. Descriptions and Illustrations of Plants of the Cactus Family.” Volume 4, The Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington 1923
2) John Pilbeam “Mammillaria The Cactus File Handbook” Cirio Pub. Services, 01/Dec/1999
3) Edward Anderson “The Cactus family” Timber Press, Incorporated, 2001
4) James Cullen, Sabina G. Knees, H. Suzanne Cubey "The European Garden Flora Flowering Plants: A Manual for the Identification of Plants Cultivated in Europe, Both Out-of-Doors and Under Glass" Cambridge University Press, 11/Aug/2011
5) David R Hunt; Nigel P Taylor; Graham Charles; International Cactaceae Systematics Group. "The New Cactus Lexicon" dh books, 2006
Coryphantha lloydii (Escobaria lloydii) Photo by: Cactus Art Coryphantha lloydii (Escobaria lloydii) Photo by: Valentino Vallicelli Coryphantha lloydii (Escobaria lloydii) Photo by: Cactus Art - Las Palomas, Coahuila, Mexico. It is a nice plant with tiny stem and dense spines. (Escobaria lloydii) Photo by: Valentino Vallicelli Coryphantha lloydii (Escobaria lloydii) Photo by: Cactus Art Coryphantha lloydii (Escobaria lloydii) Photo by: Cactus Art Coryphantha lloydii (Escobaria lloydii) Photo by: Valentino Vallicelli Coryphantha lloydii (Escobaria lloydii) Photo by: Valentino Vallicelli Cultivation and Propagation: Easy to cultivate in a very gritty substrate with much drainage. Water regularly in summer, but do not overwater (very rot prone), it prefer a completely dry place during winter. An unheated greenhouse would be perfect. It can survive low temperatures (approx -5 C). Full sun to light shade
Propagation: Seeds (no dormancy requirement, they germinate best at 25°C in spring ) or usually by offsets (readily available), or occasionally grafted.