Gymnos in habitat
Gymnocalycium bayrianum H. Till
In the autumn of 1964 hitherto unknown plants reached the company of K. H. Uhlig in Rommelshausen (Germany). This coincided with a visit by Hans Till and other Austrian enthusiasts to the cacti nursery Uhlig. Till recognised that these specimen strongly differed in their habitus from previously known Gymnocalycium. He went on to purchase four plants from that collection, which was made by the Tucuman-based collector Schickendantz.
In 1987 Till described the plants in the cacti-magazine KuaS 38(8):191 as G. bayrianum, in honour of the former president of the society of Austrian cacti enthusiasts (German: "Gesellschaft Österreichischer Kakteenfreunde").
The range of G. bayrianum is relatively small. It extends from El Brete in the east to Sierra de Medina and Sierra de la Candelaria in the north of the province Tucaman up into the borderland of the province Salta.
The species grows at a height of approximately 850 to 1500 metres. Often plants grow under the protection of grasses and shrubs, rarely in open spaces.
