Walk into the Madaripur Horticulture Centre and you will see cacti of many colours, covered in all kinds of unusual spines. The cactus corner set up there holds 225 kinds of cactus. Among them a noto cactus has recently flowered, which the centre's deputy director claims is a first in Bangladesh. Plant lovers are flocking every day to see the flower of the noto cactus, which was collected from Thailand.

The Madaripur Horticulture Centre is at Mostafapur Boro Bridge in Mostafapur union of Madaripur Sadar upazila. Its deputy director, agriculturist Ashutosh Kumar Biswas, first began collecting cacti on his own initiative, then fell in love with them. He started buying plants he found online and also collected them from nurseries and people's homes. In just two and a half years, 225 species of cactus have come to adorn the centre.

The noto cactus that has now flowered is popular in Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, southern Brazil, Mexico and several other countries. Its attractive spines and yellow flowers easily catch the eye. It is usually elongated and round in shape. Many people have come to take a look since hearing that it had flowered.

Visitor Samira Akter Sumaiya said: "I really like cacti, so my mother and I came to see it when we heard the noto cactus had flowered. The flower is very beautiful. When seedlings of this plant are available, I will get one."

Another plant lover, Ohiduzzaman Kajol, said: "I have always loved plants, and even more so when they are unusual. So I came to have a look as soon as I heard. The flower is very beautiful. A yellow flower blooming among the spines is, in a word, extraordinary."

Ashutosh Kumar Biswas said the noto cactus seedling was collected from Thailand three years ago, and after three years of care it produced yellow flowers a few days ago. "This is probably the first time a noto cactus has flowered in Bangladesh," he said. Many plant lovers are coming to see it and many are asking for seedlings. It was bought for Tk 500 and is now worth Tk 1,500, he said. The centre is working on producing seedlings, and once it does, it wants to make them available to everyone at a very low price.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.