Gordita basically means small fat. It is a perfect name for this cactus. Gordita is supposed to be Mark Albert’s #10 x (SS02 x Berkely Botanical Gardens Pachanoi). That seed lot throws a tremendous amount of variation, but Gordita is so far outside the brackets morphologically that I suspect there may have been a mix up. It may very well by MA #9 or 10 x Juuls.

Gordita is extremely block, rarely varying from having flat sides. Typical growth is 6 ribbed and sometimes 7. The original seedling had 7 ribs and was still very blocky, which is what caught my eye in the first place. That is very unusual. Typically the fewer ribs a plant has the more it has goovy sides than flat sides. The diameter is on the smaller side, but she makes up for it in plumpness.

Gordita has some downsides One problem is it is fairly prone to fungal rust. A related problem is she cracks if given too much water. Blows up is more like it sometimes. I’ve had pups blow all apart in the winter rains and just rot. sometimes they survive, but it is a real problem. I let one get rained on in mid fall, then moved it inside, didn’t water it anymore, and it still threw large cracks. In the summer I can water it a lot because it is constantly loosing water. The way rust is related to that, is that the pups will get rust in the vertical grooves between ribs and in the grooves above the areoles which weakens them, making them crack even more easily.

Gordita is something else. My friend said he thought it might be the most beautiful cactus he’s seen. Chubby chasers aside, it is pretty impressive. I’m not one to pamper plants. I throw them to whatever regular conditions there are and hope they make it. My main interest in her is as a breeding parent to work toward blocky cactus. If grown in the ground, it is easy to control the cracking issue by just not over watering.

I’ve sent out a few Gordita cuts as of 2024 and will keep sending them out if people want them. She may be a bit of a premadonna, but she is a looker.