Blossfeldia liliputana KK 2059 Large Cluster

Description

Type: Seed grown · Size: about 2.6 cm (1.04 in) across, dense multi-headed cluster · Field data: KK 2059, Torotoro Pass, Rio Grande

Blossfeldia liliputana KK 2059 large cluster is for sale here as a single, one-of-a-kind specimen: a seed grown clump of the world’s smallest cactus that has offset into a tight, many-headed knot rather than staying solitary or splitting into just two or three heads. The plant pictured, still carrying its Karel Kníže collection tag, is the exact specimen you will receive, grown on in our own greenhouse from the same KK 2059 seed line as the smaller three-headed plant we also list.

What makes this Blossfeldia liliputana KK 2059 large cluster different

A single head of Blossfeldia liliputana rarely exceeds 10 to 12 mm, flattened and button-like, with no ribs, no tubercles and no spines anywhere on the body, a combination that is close to unique in the cactus family. This specimen has pushed well past a single head or a simple pair, building into a dense cluster where new growing points keep breaking from the shared base until the whole clump reads as one irregular, cobbled mound rather than a row of separate domes. Underneath the plain grey-green surface the species is a genuine physiological outlier, carrying roughly 0.6 stomata per square millimeter, the lowest density measured in any land plant, and able to lose up to 80 percent of its water weight and sit dormant for a year or more without dying. Kew records the accepted name at Blossfeldia liliputana, and our own Blossfeldia liliputana specimen page and Blossfeldia genus hub cover the species in full.

In the Andes of northwest Argentina and southern Bolivia the species wedges into shaded crevices on vertical rock faces, anchored by a small tuberous root rather than any leaf or spine structure. It usually grows solitary or in small colonies of a few heads. A cluster built this densely, on seed grown roots rather than a rootstock pushing it to clump, is unusual, and it is a large part of why this plant costs more than a smaller sibling from the same batch.

Rarely offered seed grown

Most Blossfeldia liliputana in the trade is grafted onto Pereskiopsis or Echinopsis rootstock, because the species is notoriously slow and a seed grown plant, even with a strong root system, can take years before it tolerates ordinary watering. Grafted plants grow fast and often clump heavily, but the vigor comes at the cost of the flat, tight body the species keeps in the wild. This cluster is seed grown and built its many heads on its strong root system, at the plant’s own pace, which is the harder and slower way to arrive at a clump this size.

How we grow it

We keep this Blossfeldia liliputana in an extremely free-draining, fine mineral mix, in a shallow pot that dries quickly, under shade with steady airflow rather than the hard direct sun a typical globular cactus wants. Water sparingly through the warm growing months and only once the mix has gone fully dry, then withhold completely through a cool, dry winter above roughly 5°C. A cluster this dense took years longer to reach than a single head would, since every new growing point restarts the same slow clock.

When your plant arrives

Your Blossfeldia liliputana KK 2059 large cluster ships well rooted and packed dry for transit. Pot it up into a sharply draining mineral mix in a shallow, quick-drying container, settle it somewhere bright but shaded from harsh direct sun, and withhold water for about 14 days while it acclimates before the first cautious soak. After that, return to the sparing, fully-dry-between-waterings routine described above.

Field data and provenance

KK 2059 is a field number of the Czech collector Karel Kníže, recorded against Torotoro Pass on the Rio Grande, the same locality Mesa Garden lists for the seed both of our KK 2059 plants were grown from. We have not yet indexed this collector in our own Field Number Database, so we are naming the source plainly: the seed came from Mesa Garden under this exact field number, and the plant was raised entirely in our greenhouse from there. Blossfeldia sits on CITES Appendix II through the family-wide Cactaceae listing, and artificially propagated, seed grown stock like this is the lawful way to own it.

This is a one-of-a-kind plant. The dense, multi-headed cluster in the photographs, about 2.6 cm across, is the exact specimen that ships.