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Mammillaria
Also called Fishhook Cactus, Pincushion Cacti, Pincushion Cactus, Pincushion Cactuses
Mammillaria is a large genus of small, globe-shaped to cylindrical cacti with clustered, nipple-like tubercles, many of which bloom with attractive flowers. Most are easy to grow in bright light with sharp drainage, though a few species are much harder.
Mammillaria is one of the largest genera in the cactus family (Cactaceae), with currently about 170 to 190 accepted species and around 99 subspecies. Most of the mammillarias are native to Mexico, while some come from the Southwestern United States, the Caribbean, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras and Venezuela. The common name "pincushion cactus" refers to this genus and the closely related Escobaria.
The first species was described by Carl Linnaeus as Cactus mammillaris in 1753, deriving its name from the Latin mammilla, "nipple", referring to the tubercles that are among the distinctive features of the genus. Numerous species are commonly known as globe cactus, nipple cactus, birthday cake cactus, fishhook cactus or pincushion cactus (though such terms are also commonly used for related taxa, such as Escobaria or Ferocactus).
Mammillarias have extremely variable spination from species to species, and attractive flowers, making them attractive for cactus hobbyists. Most mammillarias are considered easy to cultivate, though some species are among the hardest cacti to grow. Several taxa are threatened with extinction at least in the wild, due to habitat destruction and especially overcollecting for the pot plant trade. Cactus fanciers can assist conservation of these rare plants by choosing nursery-bred specimens (wild-collected ones are illegal to possess for the rarest species). Several mammillarias are relatively easy (for cacti) to grow from seeds. One such species, popular and widely available from nursery stock but endangered in the wild, is Mammillaria zeilmanniana.
Mammillarias are predominantly found in Mexico but also have a wide range of distribution in neighboring regions north of the equator including the southwest United States, the Caribbean, Guatemala and Honduras. The southernmost limits of its range appear to be Colombia and Venezuela, where only two known species are found. Within this wide distribution, some species will exhibit large variations depending on the locality, sometimes even within just a few hundred feet. Some of these variations are so extreme that they have resulted in classifications of new species, many of which are so limited to one locality that they are considered critically endangered.
Water can be extracted from the cacti. The fruit from several species is edible, sometimes described as delicious, and is best harvested when fully extruded from the axil and separates easily from the plant.
Mammillaria bombycina · Mammillaria carmenae · Golden Star Cactus · Mammillaria erythrosperma · Twin Spine Cactus · Old Lady Pincushion · Mammillaria laui · Mexican Pincushion · Mammillaria petterssonii · Feather Cactus · Mammillaria polythele · Cactus
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Mammillaria by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
