The wild origin of this distinctive, spiny form of the widespread and variable Caribbean and South American species remains a mystery. It came to us from the late collector Conrad Fleming (1951-2020) whose garden in the U.S. Virgin Islands regularly suffered from the ravages of frequent hurricanes. Conrad made the best of the situation by generously sharing cuttings of these plants with botanical gardens and collectors far and wide. Over the last decade we have gradually propagated enough to share through the ISI. We offer rooted cuttings of HBG 66842, a cutting received in May, 1990, collected by Conrad in the Netherlands Antilles on the island of Curaçao, from which the species was described by Linnaeus (as Cactus lanuginosus). The locality given was Santa Rosa Weg, Dutch for Santa Rosa Way. Santa Rosa is a district of the main town of Willemstad and there is indeed a street of that name. Alas, I never clarified with Conrad exactly where he collected this plant, but photos by Paul Hoxey of plants growing naturally in Curaçao are a good match for our plants which may sport somewhat denser spination at their current size. $10
Published in the Cactus and Succulent Journal, Vol. 97 (2), Summer 2025