Description
Mammillaria carmenae is a solitary or clustering globular cactus.
Stems: Globose to ovoid, 4 - 10 cm high, 3 - 5 cm in diameter. Without latex.
Tubercles: Conical. Axil: Woolly and bristly.
Radial spines: More than 100, soft, fine, flexible, star-like, yellow to gold-bronze tipped in copper-red, 5 mm long.
Central spines: There are no central spines.
Flowers: Daytime, Creamy white (usually) to pink to pale pink, with a pink tinge, up to 11 mm long.
Blooming season: Plants bloom at the same time in late winter-early spring and are very generous with their flowers.
Remarks: The point of interest of “forma rubrispina” are the bright bronze-red spines.
Origin and Habitat
Garden origin (Nursery produced cultivar)
Cultivation and Propagation
It is a relatively fast-growing species. This is easily grown into clumps, but it often has an irregular pattern of offsetting. Water regularly in summer, but do not over-water (rot prone). Use a pot with good drainage and a very porous potting media. Keep dry in winter. Feed with a high potassium fertilizer in summer. It is quite frost resistant if kept dry, hardy as low as -5° C. Outside full sun or afternoon shade, inside it needs bright light, and some direct sun. Easily clustering and easily flowered. Most plants will offset readily, and clumps can be produced in a few years.
Propagation: Division, direct sow after last frost.
Bibliography
Major references and further lectures
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Nathaniel Lord Britton, Joseph Nelson Rose “Cactaceae: Descriptions and Illustrations of Plants of the Cactus Family” Courier Dover Publications, 1963
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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 Hunt, Nigel Taylor “The New Cactus Lexicon” DH Books, 2006 ISBN 0953813444, 9780953813445.
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Edward F. Anderson “The Cactus Family” Timber Press, 2001
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Clive Innes, Charles Glass “Cacti” Portland House, 01/May/1991
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