Origin and Habitat: Mizque, Cochabamba, Bolivia
Habitat: Grows on the south-east and extremely hot, steep wall of a canyon with slate rock outcroppings.

• Parodia punae Cárdenas

• Parodia gibbulosoides F.H.Brandt
• Parodia gibbulosa F.Ritter
• Parodia elachista F.H.Brandt
• Parodia zecheri subs. elachista (F.H.Brandt) F.H.Brandt
• Parodia exquisita F.H.Brandt
• Parodia minuta F.Ritter
• Parodia punae Cárdenas
• Parodia zecheri R.Vásquez

Description: Parodia puna is a very floriferous plant, solitary or forming cushion up to 40 cm in diameter.
Stem: Globose or shortly cylindrical, dark green with a very woolly apex, up to 8 cm tall and 7 cm in diameter.
Ribs: About 17, acute with short tubercles, straight or slightly spiralling.
Areoles: Large, round with white to greyish wool that fade away as they age..
Radial spines: 8-9, reddish, light brow to dull yellow, becoming grey as they age 4-10 mm long.
Central spine: 1 to 4 stronger, of which the upper three are straight with a reddish tip, while the lower one is more long and strong, hooked often only 4-5 mm long.
Flowers: Orange-red , 2 cm in diameter. Pericarpel and floral tube with abundant white wool and brown bristles. The filaments bear cream-yellowish anthers. Stile white-yellowish.
Blooming season: Late summer through autumn. Flowers remain open for up to six days.

Cultivation and Propagation: Needs regular water in summer. Keep rather dry in winter, tends to lose its roots in winter. Can tolerate light frost (-1C°)
Propagation: By Seeds. The seed of this plant are extremely small and must be sown on the surface of the germination substrate (not buried!!) But the seedlings after germination are so minuscule and delicate that it is quite problematic to keep them alive. So for this species it is usually used the baggy germination technique (in a sterilized pot hermetically closed in a plastic sachet)