Melocactus oreas

Melocactus oreas is a strongly spined solitary cactus easily recognizable by its cephalium.

Habit: Usually stays solitary, mature plants are easily recognizable by their cephalia, that have a covering of wool and dark reddish-brown bristles.

Cultivation and Propagation: Exclusively by seeds

Melocactus oreas grows from April to October, it can’t endure long stretches of total dryness, and also too much water will rot it, as its weak root systems tends to be inefficient at sucking up water from wet soil. Nonetheless, again as a result of their tropical origins, they need a fair amount of water, but allow the soil to dry quite a bit before watering again.

Some of the information in this description has been found at desert-tropicals.com, llifle.com and cactus-art.biz