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Photo
and © copyright by
Andrea
B. (Bologna, Italy)
http://www.cactusfriends.com/Andrea/index.html
Mammillaria
plumosa has beautiful feathery looking spines that are so soft,
it makes it one of the friendliest of all cacti.
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Description:
Clumping plants form low, dense mounds sometime up to 40 cm wide
entirely covered by the mass of white feathery spines.
Stems:
Depressed globose
or somewhat elongate, without latex, spherical, 4- 7 cm high and in
diameter. Light green, but appearing white because of the dense spines.
Tubercles:
Small, flattened,
2-4 mm long, somewhat woolly in their axil.
Radial spines:
About 40 per areole 1 - 7 mm long, white, weak, interlacing, feathery.
The spines in this specie have very long hairs along the spine-axis
arranged as are the segments of a bird's feather and that furnish an
epidermal protection against the blasting sun of the desert.
Central spines:
Absent.
Flowers:
Whitish yellow, up to 3-15 mm long (occasionally with pink
midstrips), with a strong sweet scent. Perianth segment with a
reddish line running down to the centre.
Fruits:
Seeds:
Black.
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Cultivation: Needs regular water in summer, but
for best appearance keep water off of the spines. Do not let the soil
become too dry in winter, either. It does better with a good drained soil
mix since it is a rot prone species,
whose roots are
easily lost in pots that stay damp for any length of time. It
takes a couple of years to offset, but once it starts it can fill a 25cm
pot in just a few years. Propagation: Seeds, offsets (Cuttings root
quickly). Needs full sun or light shade in summer.
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▲Spines
Photo and ©
copyright by
Irwin Lightstone
◄
The blooms are whitish yellow and up to 15 mm long (occasionally with pink
midstrips), with astrong sweet scent. Photo and ©
copyright by
Irwin Lightstone
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Family:
Cactaceae (Cactus
Family)
Scientific name:
Mammillaria plumosa
F.A.C. Weber
Published in: Bois, Dict. Hort. 804 (1898)
Origin:
Northeastern Mexico, (Coahuila and Nuevo Leon).
Altitude 780 - 1.350 m.
Habitat:
Grows
clustered together in the fissures of calcareous rock clefts and
shingle, over which it stretches and binds together. A beautiful, small,
freely
Conservation status: Listed in
CITES appendix 2.
Common Name: Feather Cactus, Feather ball, (The Latin name 'plumosa' means
'feathery')
Synonyms:
- Chilita plumosa Orcutt 1926.
- Neomammillaria plumosa Britton & Rose
1923.
- Ebnerella plumosa Buxb.1951.
- Escobariopsis plumosa Alexander
Borissovitch Doweld 2000
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Photo and ©
copyright by
Irwin Lightstone
(http://www.radiantimagesphotography.net
)
Small, growing clustering species with inoffensive white feather-like
spines which cover the plant.
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