This is my favourite Matucana because it has such elegant flowers with thin tubes which are produced all through the summer, so long as the plant is watered. It is easy to grow and will flower in a 6cm pot at just three years old.
It requires an open acidic compost and a sunny location gives good results because it comes from the valley of the Marañon river in Peru. This is a hot place, so a minimum of around 10°C in winter is needed, during which the plant should be kept completely dry. Eventually making a cluster of stems, it can produce a spectacular flower display several times in the growing season. Some clones also have long thin spines which add to the attraction.
The plant was first described by John Donald in 1979 for Wolfgang Krahn, a German cactophile who found it in 1964 whilst travelling with Paul Hutchison. It was also found by Friedrich Ritter in the same year. He was going to call it M. calliantha, which is occasionally still seen on labels, but Donald named the plant first.
Text and photos by Graham Charles
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