Mammillaria heyderi |
Mammillaria tetrancistra |
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biznaga China, Heyder's pincushion cactus, little nipple cactus |
common fish hook cactus |
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Habit | Plants unbranched, protruding relatively little above soil. | Plants branched; branches 1–several. | ||||
Roots | obconic taproots; secondary roots diffuse. |
fleshy taproots, to 24 cm, 5–8 cm diam. |
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Stems | top-shaped, flat-topped (aerial part sometimes hemispheric in old age or in dense subtropical vegetation), protruding above ground 0–2 × (4–)7.5–15 cm, firm; tubercles 9–15(–20) × 3–7 mm; axils with short wool, bristles absent; cortex and pith not mucilaginous; latex abundant in healthy tissue throughout cortex of stem, tubercles, and sometimes flower receptacle, sticky, white. |
cylindric to ovoid-cylindric, commonly 5–15(–25) × 3.5–7(–10) cm, flaccid; tubercles 4 mm diam.; axils short woolly; cortex and pith mucilaginous; latex absent. |
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Spines | (8–)10–18(–27) per areole, usually brownish, darker at tip, glabrous; radial spines (8–)10–22(–26) per areole, white to white-and-brown or brown, needlelike, 6–15(–16) mm, stiff, abaxial spines longest; central spines (0–)1(–4) per areole, porrect or ascending, not hooked, (0.5–)2–8 × 0.15–0.45 mm; subcentral spines 0. |
21–64 per areole, dark or light colored, depending largely on substrate color, glabrous (to hoary); radial spines 30–46(–60) per areole, white, bristlelike, 6–10 × 0.09–0.15 mm, stiff; central spines 1–3(–4) per areole, porrect or strongly projecting, usually hooked, (6–)13–18(–25) × (0.2–)0.3(–0.4) mm; subcentral spines several, often 12+ per areole, radiating in all directions, often resembling supplementary ring of radial spines, barely distinguishable from radial spines, stouter, longer and dark tipped or purplish. |
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Flowers | 1.9–3.8 × 1.5–3 cm; outermost tepal margins entire; inner tepals white, greenish or cream to pale pink, with tan, pink, greenish, or brownish midstripes, 11–19 × 2–2.5 mm; stigma lobes externally green, internally green or red (or pink), 2.5–3 mm. |
2.5 × 2.5–3.5 cm; outermost tepal margins long fringed; inner tepals pink to rose-purple, margins sometimes paler or white, at least proximally, 24–26 × 4 mm; stigma lobes yellow-green to green. |
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Fruits | brilliant red: scarlet, carmine, or crimson, obovoid to clavate, 10–35(–40) × 5–8 mm, juicy only in fruit walls; floral remnant weakly persistent. |
bright red, ellipsoid or cylindric to clavate, (8–)15–30 × 5–10 mm, juicy only in fruit walls; floral remnant quickly deciduous, leaving conspicuous abscission scar. |
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Seeds | reddish brown, sometimes yellowish when fresh, 1–1.2 mm, deeply pitted; testa thin, relatively flexible; anticlinal cell walls sinuate, interstices narrower than pit diameters; pits cavernous or deeply concave. |
black, conspicuously strophiolate, 1.4–2.4 × 1.4 mm, pitted and rugose; testa hard; anticlinal cell walls straight (not undulate); interstices narrower than pit diameters; pits bowl-shaped; strophiole tan, large, corky. |
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2n | = 22. |
= 22. |
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Mammillaria heyderi |
Mammillaria tetrancistra |
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Phenology | Flowering Apr, Jul; fruiting Feb–Apr, Sep–Oct. | |||||
Habitat | Mojave and Sonoran Deserts, alluvium and outcrops, valley floors, hills, mountainsides | |||||
Elevation | 100-1500 m (300-4900 ft) | |||||
Distribution |
AZ; NM; OK; TX; n Mexico
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AZ; CA; NV; UT; Mexico (Baja California, Sonora)
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Discussion | Varieties 2 (2 in the flora). Green fruits of Mammillaria heyderi with fully mature, viable seeds precede the ripe (elongate) fruits by six months to a year. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Mammillaria tetrancistra extends farther into hyper-arid California deserts than any other species of Mammillaria. Without the unique seeds, its identification requires detailed comparison with both Mammillaria grahamii and M. viridiflora. Although M. viridiflora is ecogeographically segregated (more mesophytic), the other taxa grow intermingled at many sites in southwestern Arizona. Pushing the side of the stems with a stick or stone allows crude field identification for two commonly confused species: stems of M. tetrancistra are soft and flabby, whereas stems of M. grahamii are firm. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 4, p. 255. | FNA vol. 4, p. 251. | ||||
Parent taxa | Cactaceae > subfam. Cactoideae > Mammillaria | Cactaceae > subfam. Cactoideae > Mammillaria | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Name authority | Muehlenpfordt: Allg. Gartenzeitung 16: 20. (1848) | Engelmann: Amer. J. Sci. Arts, ser. 2, 14: 337. (1852) | ||||
Web links |