Scientific: Rebutia fiebrigii
Common: Orange crown cactus, flame crown
Family: Cactaceae
Origin: High, dry, rocky grasslands slopes of the Bolivian Andes.
Pronounciation: Re-boo-TEE-a fee-brig-EE-i
Hardiness zones
Sunset 10-24
USDA 8-11
Landscape Use: Small accent barrel cactus for formal desert gardens, container culture best in Phoenix.
Form & Character: Diminuative, compact, delicate, free flowering, beautiful.
Growth Habit: Perennial succulent, slow growing, globular cactus with age up to 3 inches in diameter and up to 4-inches tall. Stems ribes are straight to spirally arranged, tuberculate. Orange crown cactus can eventually grow in clumps to 5-inches wide, though rare in cultivation.
Foliage/Texture: Stems rounded to globular, medium to dark green, numerous, short whitish spines at white aeroles; medium texture.
Flowers & Fruits: Numerous simply amazing orange or bright vermilion tubular flowers to 1-inch wide; fruits tiny, spherical, berrylike, greenish-brown to purplish with white wool, bristly, often hidden among the spines thus somewhat inconspicuous.
Seasonal Color: Late spring to early summer flowers, typically late April to early June in Phoenix.
Temperature: Heat tolerating to 110oF, damaged by heat above 115oF. Cold hardy to 15oF, with stems turning purplish during colder weather.
Light: In Phoenix, provide light shade during summer afternoons and avoid locating this small cactus in a full western exposure, especially with reflected light off western building exposures. Morning sun is best.
Soil: Tolerant, but a well-drained, coarse soil is preferred.
Watering: Orange crown cactus will need regular supplemental water during summer (especially if container grown) and little to no supplemental water during winter.
Pruning: None
Propagation: Seed, division of stem clumps, stem sections hardened off and directly placed into soil.
Disease and Pests: Root rot in poorly drained soil.
Additional comments: This is an outstanding, delicate-looking, small, barrel cactus for formal desert cactus and container gardens. In Phoenix, orange crown cactus is irreversibly damaged by extreme heat, such as occurred during the summers of 2020 and 2023. Giving protection during extreme heat episodes is essential!
