Spiny rods stretch straight up toward the sky, creating an almost outrageously wild silhouette. On closer inspection, you'll spot countless tiny leaves lined up among those spikes. Suddenly, thinking of the thorns as valiant knights desperately protecting the delicate, petite "leaf princesses," you might even find them adorably endearing. That's the charm of Alluaudia. Among its relatives, Montagnacii stands out for its relatively thick, robust spines. Its look is especially striking because the thorns take center stage while the leaves are barely noticeable—a visual trait that just might explain its popularity. It rarely branches and typically grows upright as single stems or clusters of up to five, keeping a bold, columnar silhouette. In the wild, it can reach about 6 meters tall (which is actually only mid-sized within its genus). From a distance, these plants can look a lot like cacti—a possible example of "convergent evolution," where unrelated species in similar environments end up with similar shapes! This species is native to the Mahafaly Plateau and the area around Itampolo in southwestern Madagascar. The name is in honor of the French collector M.R. Montagnac, said to be the person who collected this species.

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  3,900JPY