Lobivia
Lobivia is a group of small, mostly globular cacti native to the high Andes of Bolivia, Peru and Argentina, treasured by growers for their outsized, brilliantly coloured day-blooming flowers borne on comparatively modest bodies. The name is a famous anagram of Bolivia, the country at the heart of the group's range. Although taxonomists have formally folded Lobivia into the large genus Echinopsis, the name remains in everyday use among hobbyists as a convenient label for these free-flowering Andean plants.
Description
Plants grouped under Lobivia are generally small — solitary or clustering globes and short cylinders, most only a few centimetres to perhaps 15 cm across, though a few reach larger. The ribbed bodies are usually well armed with spines that vary from short and comb-like to long, curved and formidable, and the ribs are typically broken into distinct tubercles.
The flowers are the reason the group is so loved. Compared with the plant they are large, funnel- to bowl-shaped, and open by day (unlike many of their night-blooming Echinopsis relatives). Colour is the great attraction: fiery reds and oranges, clear yellows, pinks, purples and bicolours, often with a contrasting throat. Individual blooms may last only a day or two, but a healthy plant produces them in flushes through the spring and summer.
Distribution
The group is centred on the Andes and neighbouring highlands of Bolivia, Peru and northern Argentina, with some plants extending into Chile. Many grow at considerable altitude in grassland, rocky slopes and open ground, where they endure strong sun, sharp drainage and cold nights. This montane origin makes a number of them notably cold-tolerant when kept dry.
Notable species
Because the group has been reshuffled repeatedly, names are used loosely; the following are among the best known in cultivation:
- Lobivia arachnacantha — small clustering plants with a wide range of flower colours.
- Lobivia tiegeliana — compact grower prized for its richly coloured blooms.
- Lobivia pentlandii — a classic, variable species with showy funnel-shaped flowers.
- Lobivia famatimensis — small-bodied plants offering an especially broad palette of flower colour.
- Lobivia backebergii — noted for vivid red to magenta flowers with a pale throat.
- Lobivia haematantha — a variable, often solitary species with striking blooms.
Many plants once placed in the related genera Cinnabarinea and Acantholobivia are now folded into this same group.
Cultivation
Lobivia are among the easier and more rewarding cacti for a beginner who wants flowers early. Grow them in a very free-draining, mostly mineral mix in a snug pot, and give them the brightest light you can — strong sun brings out compact growth, good spination and reliable flowering. Water generously through the warm growing season once the soil has dried, then keep the plants completely dry and cool through winter. This cold, dry winter rest is important: it hardens the plant, allows many species to tolerate surprising cold when dry, and sets the flower buds for the following season. See Watering and Repotting for general technique.
Many species offset freely, so a single plant readily builds into a flowering clump over a few years.
Hobby and cultivar notes
For collectors, the appeal of the group lies in its enormous variety of flower colour packed onto small, windowsill-friendly plants, together with easy culture and quick flowering from seed. Because populations are so variable, plants are usually traded under species names with field-collection numbers rather than as fixed cultivars, and named horticultural selections are less standardised than in showier genera. The group also hybridises readily within the wider Echinopsis alliance, and many of the popular large-flowered "Echinopsis hybrids" carry Lobivia blood in their ancestry.
See also
- Echinopsis — the genus into which Lobivia is now formally placed
- Soil and potting mix · Watering · Repotting · Propagation — seed · Propagation — offsets
- Pests and diseases