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Description: M.
supraflumen is a small cactus covered with wool, spines and
showy flowers in June. It is usually solitary, but occasionally forms
offsets.
Stem: Pale green, spherical to cylindrical, sunken apically, 30 -
100 mm high, 40 - 70 mm in diameter (or more in cultivation).
Without
latex.
Tubercule: conical to four-angled, pyramidical, firm, with
a humpbacked epidermis, 7 - 9 mm long and 5 - 7 mm in diameter.
Axil: With a few bristles and some wool.
Areoles: Large, white and woolly.
Roots: Fibrous.
Radial spine: 20 - 25, stiff, bristle-like, straight, expanding,
the uppermost being the shortest, glassy white, 3 - 7 mm long.
Central spine: 5 - 9, needle-like, straight
(sometimes one
is hooked), brown to reddish, 7 - 15 mm long.
Flower: Funnel-form, dark carmine to magenta, 13 - 15mm long and
10 - 12 mm in diameter.
Fruit: Ovoid to club-shaped, carmine, 10 - 15 mm long and 6 - 8
mm wide, ripens 12 - 14 months after flowering. (while in
Mammillaria nunezii the fruit is greenish-white, tinged with pink)
Seed: Brown, round to club-shaped, 0,9 mm long and 0,8 mm in
diameter, testa striated, hilum subbasal.
Blooming seson (Europe): April - July.
Comments: This plant is now referred to: M.nunezii ssp nunezii.
The differences with M. nunezii ssp nunezii are very
few: only
the fruit's colour, and
its having fewer spines.
Cultivation: An easy-to-grow
and easily flowering species,
but not a fast grower,
that may make large clumps given the best conditions.
Some plants will offset, and moderately large-sized
clumps can be produced in a few years.
Water regularly in summer, but do not over-water
(rot prone).
Use a pot with good
drainage and a very porous potting media, and
keep dry in winter.
Feed with a high potassium
fertilizer in summer.
Avoid frost. Reputedly
sensitive to low temperatures, but less so if kept on the dry side prior
to, and during, cold
weather. Outside full sun or afternoon shade, inside
it needs bright light, and some direct sun.
Tends to get yellowish in strong
light, which encourages flowering and heavy wool and spine production.
Propagation: Direct sow after last frost, or
division of larger plants.,
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