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A tiny, globe-shaped cactus from the Sierra Madre Oriental in Nuevo León, Mexico, that forms clumps over time. Its key to growing is very sharp drainage, little water, and protection from frost.
Aztekium ritteri is a species of cactus native to the Mexican state of Nuevo León.
It is a cactus endemic to the Sierra Madre Oriental, in the state of Nuevo León, Mexico. It is distributed in the Rayones valley, between 850 and 1,045 m above sea level. It is located on Jurassic gypsum, middle and lower Cretaceous limestone, as well as Tertiary conglomerates. Plants grow with associated with Selaginella sp., there is an important relationship between Aztekium ritteri and Selaginella lepidophylla, which most likely plays a predominant role in promoting the germination of its tiny seeds. Where the average annual precipitation ranges between 300 and 800 mm. The types of vegetation surrounding their populations are submontane scrub (or subinermet scrub) and rosetophilous desert scrub. The habitat of this species is characterized by having slopes of nearly 90 degrees, in areas occupied by intermittent streams.
In Mexico, Aztekium ritteri is sometimes called “peyotillo.” However this name is likely given to this plant not for its psychoactive properties, but rather for its vague similarity to the button like form of peyote (Lophophora williamsii). Even though it contains N-methyltyramine, hordenine, anhalidine, mescaline, pellotine, and 3-methoxytyramine, there have been no ethnobotanical reports that state that it has ever been used by the indigenous people of the area.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Aztekium ritteri by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
