Mammilaria ID

[mmcavall]

In another thread, someone suggested M. dioica, but the photos were very bad.

Today, new flowers, new pictures...maybe someone can confirm it ID

[greenknight]

Nice flower! Doesn't look quite right for dioica, more like goodridgei or grahamii.

[vlani]

Mamm. louisae?

[mmcavall]

Thanks Spence and Vlani

It is hard to know for sure. This picture of M. goodridgei in the Cacti Guide is almost identical to mine:

http://cactiguide.com/graphics/200/m_go ... _a_200.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

But other pictures of goodridgei are not so similiar, and, afterall, all look very similar: grahamii, louisae (hutchisoniana), dioica, etc...

For example, take a look at this dioca:

http://cactiguide.com/graphics/200/m_dioica_b_200.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

According to Cacti Guide, hutchisoniana and grahamii are common worldwide, while goodridgei is unusual.

IMO it looks like goodridgei, but I bought it in the supermarket, which would not be the place to find an unusual Mammilaria....

[mmcavall]

Mammillaria sheldonii? (I'm still trying to ID this Mammillaria)

[DaveW]

Mammillaria sheldonii has a reddish flower. I would guess either Mammillaria hutchinsoniana or louisae, which is often considered a variety of it. It is certainly one of the larger flowered Baja California Mammillarias.

Mammillaria louisae seems to be one of those Mammillaria's with a short life span, constantly regenerating from seed in habitat. Probably never lives all that long in cultivation so always good to have a spare. Since I believe it is self fertile you can always plant the seed to keep replacements coming along. Cacti like humans and animals have an average life span, therefore not all species will outlast us and live as long as Saguaro's.

http://society.bcss.org.uk/index.php/se ... -2016.html

[mmcavall]

Mammillaria sheldonii has a reddish flower. I would guess either Mammillaria hutchinsoniana or louisae, which is often considered a variety of it. It is certainly one of the larger flowered Baja California Mammillarias.

Mammillaria louisae seems to be one of those Mammillaria's with a short life span, constantly regenerating from seed in habitat. Probably never lives all that long in cultivation so always good to have a spare. Since I believe it is self fertile you can always plant the seed to keep replacements coming along. Cacti like humans and animals have an average life span, therefore not all species will outlast us and live as long as Saguaro's.

http://society.bcss.org.uk/index.php/se ... -2016.html

Hi Dave, thanks for replying and for the information provided.
I’ve been discussing the ID of this plant in the Mammillaria Forum.
The suggestions range between sheldonii/swinglei or hutchinsoniana/louisae.
It was proposed that the number of radial spines in my plant is closer to the description of sheldonii:
http://mammillaria.forumotion.net/t2415-mammillaria-id
Nevertheless, looking at the pictures in the link you sent, and regarding the color of the petals, it seems that hutchinsoniana/louisa would match better.
The only difference is the length of the stigmas. In the link you sent, stigmas are longer (however, both are green, which seems to be different from most of plants I’ve seen, which displays yellow/orange stigmas).
I don’t know how important are the length and color of stigmas (and number of radial spines) to distinguish Mammillaria species. That said, what do you think, ultimately, about the ID of the plant?
Thanks again