MelocactiMelocacti are very interesting plants, though it must be said they are not the easiest cacti to grow in the UK. They come from various tropical parts of Central America and the Caribbean, with the result that they do need plenty of warmth all year round. Juvenile plants look just like many other solitary, globular cacti but when they mature they begin to form a cephalium. This cephalium is a bristly cap at the growing point usually either whitish or ginger coloured. The small pink flowers are then produced each year from the cephalium which itself grows and can become quite elongated.

The picture on the right was taken at the Gateshead Garden Festival in 1990.
 

Photographs by : John Ellis
 
 

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