Neoporteria is a genus of spherical and columnar cacti in the family Cactaceae, comprising about 30-35 species. The genus name Neoporteria is derived from the Greek neo which means new, and from C.E. Porter, a 20th-century Chilean entomologist. The genus is native to Chile and northern Argentina. Neoporteria species are spherical, later stage slightly columnar, small cacti which produce more than one flower from a single areole. The thorns are their most striking feature.
N. chilensis syn. Echinocactus chilensis, 30 cm tall and 10 cm wide, is a spherical, then columnar cacti. It has pale green stem and a dense covering of thick golden spines of varying lengths. On its crown, flattish, pink-orange or white flowers to 5 cm wide are borne in summer.
N. napina, 3 cm tall and 5 cm wide, is a flattened spherical cactus. It has gray-green or chocolate brown stem with 14 ribs divided in round tubercles, and is covered in very short, black spines of 3mm long. The crown produces flattish yellow flowers to 5 cm across in summer.
N. nidus ( Bird's nest cactus), 10 cm tall and 8 cm wide, is a spherical and columnar cactus. It has dark greenish brown stem with long, soft gray spines. During spring or autumn, the crown produces tubular pink to cerise flowers of 3-5 cm long, with paler bases and open only at the tip.
N. subgibbosa syn. N. litoralis, 30 cm tall and 10 cm wide, is a spherical to columnar cactus. It has light green to dark gray-green stem with large, wooly areoles and thick, amber spines. The crown bears flattish, carmine-pink flowers in late summer.
N. villosa, 15 cm tall and 10 wide, is a clump-forming cactus. It has branched green to dark gray-green stem of 13-15 ribs, with dense, sometimes curvy gray spines of 3 cm long. During spring or autumn, the crown produces tubular pink or white flowers.
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