It’s hard to mistake a moon cactus; you’ll always recognize them by their bright pink, yellow, or orange colors.
The bright neon colors are usually in the shape of round looking balls, with thorns, and they’re sitting on top of another green colored cactus.
The little moon cactus is a funny plant because it’s actually two plants in one and the product of human design.
Gymnocalycium mihanovichii is a handsome, miniature cactus native to South America that grows just 4-inches tall and 5-inches broad.
They are nearly spherical, with 8-14 ribs, typically grey-green in color with burgundy accents, short, bristly spines and white tufted points.
The vibrantly colored varieties all date back to a single nurseryman in Japan in 1940.
Out of 10,000 grey-green Gymnocalycium seedlings, two showed some intriguing reddish coloring.
His efforts to hybridize these seedlings for more brilliant coloring were wildly successful.
Today, roughly 15 million grafted cactus are traded internationally — the vast majority of them moon cactus that have been developed and produced in South Korea.