Native Habitat

• Uebelmannias grow in tropical habitats where weather and soil conditions are complex and difficult to duplicate in cultivation. Cultivated plants are usually grafted onto more hardy rootstocks.
  
  

Soil Drainage

• These cacti grow in rocky areas at high altitudes where summer rain is plentiful and humidity is high. Plants occupy small pockets or crevices in rocky surfaces where soil drainage and aeration is excellent.
  
  

Soil pH

• Uebelmannia gummifera grows in a very acidic quartz soil with a pH of 3.5. Uebelmannia pectinifera and Uebelmannia buiningii also inhabit acid soil .
  
  

Soil for Uebelmannia buiningii

• Native to one small region of quartz soil in the Serra Negra, this cactus is almost extinct in the wild, according to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It grows in pockets of fine sand and gravel on rock slabs. Cacti are silvery to purplish gray.
  
  

Soil for Uebelmannia pectinifera

• This species lives among rocks in sandy pockets admixed with organic material. It is purple when sun-grown. Spines are arranged in a comblike pattern.
  
  

Soil for Uebelmannia gummifera

• This cactus grows in pockets of quartz sand. Seeds germinate below the soil surface. Light passes through translucent soil particles, which form a small greenhouse for the growing seedling. It emerges above ground when it is thumbnail-sized. Plants are green to brownish-purple. They can produce masses of gummy exudate from mucilage channels running below the spine-bearing ribs.