Melocactus guitartii

Melocactus guitartiiMelocactus guitartii Description: Melocactus guitartii is the the rarest of these Cuban species,. It is about 10 cm broad and 12 cm high, densely armed with long spreading rigid spines. Habit: Usually solitary. Cephalium: Relatively small 3 to 4 cm tall and 7 to 11 cm in diameter with long reddish brown bristles. Flowers: From the cephalium, pink, 18 to 43 mm long and 3 to 4 cm long. These cacti are not the easiest things to grow and aren't plants for

Melocactus guitartii

Description: Melocactus guitartii is the the rarest of these Cuban species,. It is about 10 cm broad and 12 cm high, densely armed with long spreading rigid spines.
Habit: Usually solitary.
Cephalium: Relatively small 3 to 4 cm tall and 7 to 11 cm in diameter with long reddish-brown bristles.
Flowers: From the cephalium, pink, 18 to 43 mm long and 3 to 4 cm long.

These cacti are not the easiest things to grow and aren't plants for beginners. Melocactus guitartii grows from April to October
Melocactus rests from October to April but can't stand cold, or even fairly cool temperatures, so is indispensable to keep it above 8-12°C at all times
The root system is weak and generally resents being repotted and can take a long time to re-establish. The soil mix should be very quick draining, prefers very bright light, not as much as the most arid growing cacti, but plenty nonetheless.

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