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Cultivars, crests and hybrids

The cultivated forms of the genus, none of which occur in the wild

Wild Ariocarpus are slow, plain and patient. In cultivation, growers have pushed them hard the other way, selecting for heavy wool, color breaks and strange growth, and crossing the species against each other. Nothing here grows in habitat. It is all a product of the greenhouse, and most of it traces back to Japanese nurseries.

These are horticultural and trade names, not botanical taxa, so spellings and parentage vary between growers. The list below pulls together what the main references record.

Most of these named plants reach collections grafted onto a faster rootstock. Our companion site weighs grafted against seed-grown cactus for the long term.

Named cultivars

Cultivar	Based on	Notes
f. pectinatus	A. fissuratus	Elongated areoles running the tubercle length with short pectinate spines
cv. latus	A. fissuratus var. lloydii	Named cultivar variant of lloydii
cv. Godzilla	A. fissuratus	Strongly structured, heavily textured surface
cv. Godzilla (Cotton Flock Type)	A. fissuratus	Very woolly Godzilla; dense long hairs nearly conceal the tubercles
cv. Green Coral	A. fissuratus	Larger, longer green warts on the tubercle surface
cv. Cauliflower x Godzilla	A. fissuratus	Cross between the Cauliflower and Godzilla forms
cv. Supergodzilla	A. fissuratus	Enhanced Godzilla selection
cv. Tri-fingers	A. fissuratus	Distinctively three-pointed tubercle structure
cv. Cauliflower	A. retusus	Japanese selection with warty cauliflower-like skin
cv. Cauliflower King	A. retusus	Selection of the Cauliflower line
cv. Maruibo	A. retusus	Japanese cultivar with rounded tubercles
cv. Maruibo Cauliflower	A. retusus	Maruibo crossed with Cauliflower characters
cv. Maruibo Pectinatus	A. retusus	Maruibo line with a pectinate character
cv. Frumdosus	A. retusus	Named tubercle-form cultivar
cv. Frumdosus brevituberosus	A. retusus	Short-tubercled Frumdosus selection
cv. Mituibo (Three Finger)	A. retusus	Three-pointed tubercle cultivar
cv. Tama Botan	A. retusus	Large-growing cultivar selection (var. major)

Crests and monstrose

Form	Species	Notes
f. monstruosus	A. fissuratus	Disorganized growth with dense condensed lateral proliferation
f. cristata	A. fissuratus var. lloydii	Crested growth form of the lloydii variety
f. cristata	A. retusus	Slow fan-stemmed crest forming brain-shaped cushions
f. monstruosus	A. retusus	Free-branching, thin elongated stems with copious wool (var. furfuraceus)
f. cristatus	A. kotschoubeyanus	Crested form of kotschoubeyanus
f. monstruosus	A. kotschoubeyanus	Monstrose form of kotschoubeyanus
f. cristata	A. kotschoubeyanus var. elephantidens	Crested form of the elephantidens variety
cristate form	A. retusus	Cristate A. retusus specimen

Variegates

Form	Species	Notes
f. aurea	A. fissuratus	Chlorophyll-deficient mutant; entirely yellow body
f. rubra	A. fissuratus	Bright red rib notches from reduced chlorophyll
f. aurea	A. fissuratus var. lloydii	Yellow/orange chlorophyll-deficient mutant of the lloydii variety
cv. Godzilla aurata	A. fissuratus	Golden variant of the Godzilla cultivar
cv. Godzilla variegata	A. fissuratus	Variegated Godzilla cultivar
cv. Frumdosus f. variegata	A. retusus	Variegated form of the Frumdosus cultivar
f. rubra	A. kotschoubeyanus	Red-bodied reduced-chlorophyll form
variegated form	A. kotschoubeyanus	Variegated kotschoubeyanus in cultivation; no formal cultivar name
variegated form	A. trigonus	Variegated A. trigonus specimen
chimera	A. scaphirostrus	Tissue chimera of A. scaphirostrus

Hybrids

The species cross readily under glass. Living Rocks of Mexico records these crosses, including a few three-parent combinations:

A. agavioides x A. bravoanus (hintonii)
A. fissuratus x A. kotschoubeyanus
A. fissuratus x A. scaphirostrus
A. kotschoubeyanus ‘Elephantidens’ x A. retusus
A. kotschoubeyanus var. macdowellii x A. agavioides
A. kotschoubeyanus x A. scaphirostrus
A. retusus x A. kotschoubeyanus
A. retusus x A. kotschoubeyanus ‘Albiflorus’
A. retusus x A. fissuratus
A. retusus x A. fissuratus var. lloydii
A. retusus x A. scaphirostrus
A. scaphirostrus x A. agavioides
(A. retusus x A. kotschoubeyanus) x A. scaphirostrus
(A. retusus x A. kotschoubeyanus) x A. fissuratus

POWO also lists one named natural hybrid found in the wild, A. × drabi, reported between A. kotschoubeyanus and A. retusus.

Start with the species

Before the crests and cultivars there are the wild species themselves. Seed-grown Ariocarpus, raised in cultivation, are available from our companion shop.

Browse seed-grown Ariocarpus cultivars

Sources

Living Rocks of Mexico, hybrids, crests and variegates. living-rocks.com
Llifle, Encyclopedia of Living Forms, Ariocarpus cultivar and form pages.
Plants of the World Online (POWO), Ariocarpus × drabi. powo.science.kew.org