Gymnocalycium uruguayense is a species of Gymnocalycium from Brazil and Uruguay.[1]
Gymnocalycium uruguayense forms groups with juicy, green to blue-green bulbous body which is low to the ground, flattened, spherical shoots that are either flush with the ground or protrude 3 to 4 centimeters. These shoots have diameters of 5 to 10 centimeters (rarely up to 14 centimeters). The plant features six to ten (rarely up to 14) ribs divided into hexagonal humps with noticeable chin-like projections. It lacks central spines but has three to seven finely fluffy, straight to slightly curved, yellowish-brown to whitish marginal spines, 1 to 3 centimeters long.
The bell-shaped flowers are whitish to lemon yellow or pink, sometimes greenish-yellow, and reach up to 4 centimeters in length and 5.5 to 6.5 centimeters in diameter. The flowers are occasionally unisexual, and the plants are dioecious. The elongated to egg-shaped fruits are dark green to blue-green, up to 2 centimeters long, and 1 centimeter in diameter.[2]
Gymnocalycium uruguayense is found in Brazil (Rio Grande do Sul) and Uruguay.[3]
First described as Echinocactus uruguayensis by José Arechavaleta in 1905, the species name refers to its distribution in Uruguay.[4] In 1922, Nathaniel Lord Britton and Joseph Nelson Rose reclassified it under the genus Gymnocalycium.[5]