Mammillaria heyderi

Muehlenpfordt

Allg. Gartenzeitung 16: 20. 1848.

Common names: Little nipple cactus
Illustrated
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 4. Treatment on page 255. Mentioned on page 249, 256.

Plants unbranched, protruding relatively little above soil. Roots obconic taproots; secondary roots diffuse. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 2n = 22.

Distribution

V4 468-distribution-map.gif

Ariz., N.Mex., Okla., Tex., n Mexico.

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.

Selected References

None.

Key

1 Central spines 0.15-0.35 mm diam.; radial spines (7-)13-17(-26) per areole, abaxial radial spines 6-11(-16) mm; e of El Paso, Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma. Mammillaria heyderi var. heyderi
1 Central spines 0.35-0.45 mm diam.; radial spines 10-14 per areole, abaxial radial spines 9-15 mm; El Paso, Texas, w to Arizona Mammillaria heyderi var. bullingtoniana
... more about "Mammillaria heyderi"
Allan D. Zimmerman +  and Bruce D. Parfitt +
Muehlenpfordt +
Little nipple cactus +
Ariz. +, N.Mex. +, Okla. +, Tex. +  and n Mexico. +
Allg. Gartenzeitung +
Illustrated +
Chilita +, Cochemiea +, Dolichothele +, Ebnerella +, Leptocladodia +, Neomammillaria +  and Phellosperma +
Mammillaria heyderi +
Mammillaria +
species +