Genus Geohintonia
subfamilia Cactoideae, tribus Cacteae
The single species of the genus Geohintonia discovered by George S.Hinton in 1991 and the new genus for this species described by Glass and Fitz Maurice in the same year. The genus was named in his honour.
The distribution of the species is in Mexican state Nuevo Leon on the steep gypsum hills of Sierra Madre Oriental. It lives sympatricaly with Aztekium hintonii.
This species may be an ancient hybrid and probably one of its parents is A.hintonii. The Aztekium Clade (consisting of Aztekium and Geohintonia) represents a relictual, yet highly specialized lineage forming a sister group to the remaining taxa of the tribe Cacteae.
There is serious conservation problems for the Geohintonia and now this plant is endangered. The wild population of G. mexicana was almost completely wiped out by collectors.
Solitary, globose, becoming slowly columnar stems are up to 10 cm tall, with thin and long neck. Flowers borne apicaly, diurnal, funnelform, deep pink to magenta colour. It has a tendency to shed the areoles, complete with spines, leaving the body largeley spineless. Its appearance is quite unlike any other North American genus with some resemblance to Uebelmannia.
It is often seen as a grafted plant in cultivation, but grows well on its own roots too. Geohintonia is a very slow grower, so use very gritty mineral compost with little organic matter. It needs strong to part sun to develop good compact growth and rather infrequent waterings. It is hardy to -4 C (or less) for a short period.
Min.Avg.Temp.10 C.
This sample is on its own roots.