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Mammillaria lasiacantha
Fully grown, this species is only about 2 to 3 cm tall. It has
small, almost friendly spines.
The flowers are cream-white with
brownish-red stripe in late winter or early spring.
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M. lasiacantha SB500. (a.k.a. Mammillaria sp. SB500)sp. SB500
Cuatrocienagas ▲
This is a very small form
that retains the feathery spines at maturity. |
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Mammillaria lasiacantha SB255 Eddy County, New Mexico, USA
a form with plumose spines ▲ |
M. lasiacantha SB 398 Brewster County, TX, USA |
A rare and very beautiful crested form
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Family:
Cactaceae (Cactus
Family)
Scientific name:
Mammillaria
lasiacantha
Engelmann
Published in: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts. 3: 261. 1856 (as Mamillaria).
Origin: USA (Texas, New
Mexico), Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Nuevo León, San Luis
Potosí, Sonora, Zacatecas).
Habitat: Chihuahuan desert scrub with Agave lechuguilla, rocky
hills, gravelly slopes, usually on limestone. 500-2100 m.
Synonyms:
- Mammillaria lasiandra var. denudata
- Chilita lengdobleriana
- Ebnerella lasiacantha
- Mammillaria lengdobleriana
- Mammillaria neobertrandiana
- Cactus lasiacanthus var. denudatus
- Chilita denudata
- Neomammillaria denudata
- Ebnerella denudata
- Mammillaria denudata
- Escobariopsis lasiacantha
- Neomammillaria lasiacantha
- Cactus lasiacanthus
- Chilita lasiacantha
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Description: Plants usually
unbranched or slowly clustering,, deep-seated
in substrate and inconspicuous.
Stems: Depressed-spheric to
short cylindric, 1-3.5cm wide × 1,5-7 cm tall. axils bare.
Roots:
Diffuse not enlarged.
Spines: 40-80 per areole, in several series but all equally thin,
mostly appressed, white or very pale pink, often minutely tipped pinkish
brown, innocuous, bristlelike, 0,5-6 mm, glabrous to plumose, all
interpreted as radial, innermost spines shortest; No central spines.
Flowers: 1-2,5 cm; white or cream, usually with sharply defined
midstripes of green, yellow, tan, pink, pale purple, or reddish,
blooming from January to March
Fruits: Scarlet, cylindric or clavate, 10-25 mm long with floral
remnant persistent ripening in June August.
NOTE: Adults of Mammillaria lasiacantha
usually have glabrous spines, but in some populations all plants may
retain plumose spines at maturity.
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Mammillaria sp. SB500 (lasiacantha)
Cuatrocienagas
M. lasiacantha SB500 forma cristata
Cultivation: This plant
has not the fame to be easy to cultivate, but in good conditions
with excellent
ventilation,
it grows without difficulty.
It is especially sensitive to overwatering.
So careful watering and an open
mineral
potting soil are a must.
Avoid
the use of
peat or other
humus sources in the
potting mixture.
Don't add
limestone
to the potting mix which must be moderately acidic.
Can be sensitive to frost (but if dry they are resistant to
-5° C). Requires
maximum
sun exposure
to reach its full potential
and to
achieve success in
flowering.
A winter rest that allows the plant to shrivel (perhaps losing up to
25% of its summer height) will encourage flowering and long time
survival. Be careful to encourage slow growth.
Provide very good
ventilation.
Propagation: Direct sow
after last frost. (it usually doesn't produces offsets).
Photo of
conspecific taxa, varieties, forms and cultivars of the
Lasiacanthae group. (This
taxon has lots of synonyms whit several controversial varieties
and subspecies)
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