Publication: Cactaceae (Britton & Rose) 4: 57. 1923
Description
Small plants completely covered with spines, growing in clumps and and resembling a small species of Echinocereus.
Stem: Up to 7 cm tall, diameter 3,5 cm, branching from the base. Epidermis pale green.; old plants bearing naked corky tubercles.
Areoles: Roundish with white wool.
Radial spines: Approx 20 pure white, spreading, slender, up to 1 cm long.
Central spines: 4 to several, stout , 1,5 to 2,5 cm long white with brownish to blackish tip.
Flowers: 2.5 cm. Long, creamy-white or greenish eventually with a darker mid ribs on outside, filaments, style and stigma lobes greenish.
Fruits: Globular or ovoidal up to 12 mm long, red at maturity.
Seeds: Black, pitted, globose, 1 mm. in diameter.
Remarks: This species is near Escobaria tuberculosa, but it has much stouter central spines and greenish white, eciliate inner perianth-segments.
Origin and Habitat
Mexico, South of Coahuila and North of Zacatecas (Type locality Sierra de la Zulaga).
Habitat: Mattoral microfilo and rosetofilo, on stony soil, gravely bajadas, silty flats; at moderate elevations in Chihuahuan Desert Mountains.
Cultivation and Propagation
Easy to cultivate in a very gritty substrate with much drainage. Water regularly in summer, but do not overwater (very rot prone), it prefer a completely dry place during winter. An unheated greenhouse would be perfect. It can survive low temperatures (approx -5 C). Full sun to light shade
Propagation: Seeds (no dormancy requirement, they germinate best at 25°C in spring ) or usually by offsets (readily available), or occasionally grafted.
Bibliography
Major references and further lectures
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N. L. Britton, J. N. Rose “The Cactaceae. Descriptions and Illustrations of Plants of the Cactus Family.” Volume 4, The Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington 1923
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John Pilbeam “Mammillaria The Cactus File Handbook” Cirio Pub. Services, 01/Dec/1999
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Edward Anderson “The Cactus family” Timber Press, Incorporated, 2001
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James Cullen, Sabina G. Knees, H. Suzanne Cubey “The European Garden Flora Flowering Plants: A Manual for the Identification of Plants Cultivated in Europe, Both Out-of-Doors and Under Glass” Cambridge University Press, 11/Aug/2011
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David R Hunt; Nigel P Taylor; Graham Charles; International Cactaceae Systematics Group. “The New Cactus Lexicon” dh books, 2006
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