Parodia

Parodia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cactaceae, native to the eastern slopes of the Andes in northwestern Argentina and southwestern Bolivia and in the lowland pampas regions of northeastern Argentina, southern Brazil, eastern Paraguay, and Uruguay. This genus has about 65 species, many of which have been transferred from Eriocactus, Notocactus and Wigginsia. They range from small globose plants to tall columnar cacti. All are deeply ribbed and spiny, with single flowers at or near the crown. Some species produce offsets at the base. They are popular in cultivation, but must be grown indoors where temperatures fall below .

==Taxonomy and systematics== The first description was published in 1923 by the Italian-Argentinian botanist Carlos Luis Spegazzini. The genus is named after Domingo Parodi, one of the early investigators of the flora of Paraguay. The type species is Echinocactus microspermus. Anatomical and morphological work by David Richard Hunt et. al. and Reto Nyffeler led to the incorporation of the genera Brasilicactus, Brasiliparodia, Eriocactus, Notocactus and Wigginsia into the genus Parodia. These studies also suggested the inclusion of the genera Blossfeldia and Frailea.