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Just in time for Mother's Day -- best wishes to mothers everywhere, and especially the ones who enjoy cacti!

Beautiful! what are the diameters from petal to petal?
How long would it take for that third bud to bloom. Do they behave like Echinopsis, where the buds accelerate exponentially in growth speed 1-2 days before opening?

MagiCarpus wrote:Beautiful! what are the diameters from petal to petal?
How long would it take for that third bud to bloom. Do they behave like Echinopsis, where the buds accelerate exponentially in growth speed 1-2 days before opening?

When they're wide open, the flowers are about 1.5" in diameter. The 3rd bud will bloom in 2 weeks, although maybe a little sooner if I see some heat leading into Memorial Day weekend (the daytimes in my area are warm, although certainly not hot yet). And yes, Mamm theresae exhibits the Echinopsis-like behavior you just described. In fact this can be seen in a fair number of cactus species -- the most spectacular example I have in my collection is Astrophytum capricorne. I've got one working on a couple of buds, so don't be surprised if you see A. capricorne showing up as cactus of the month in the near future. If I can capture the sequence of events on camera, I'll post the pics going from buds to blooms here.

Yes it caused quite a sensation in the UK when it was introduced in the late 1960's due to the large flowers and small bodies. The equivalent of Mammillaria luethyi or Mammilaria bertholdii in it's time. Rather different in spination to the rest of the Mammillaria saboae group, which are all "versions on a theme" with nothing really close being discovered to M. theresae since. Still one of the best little Mammillaria's and not as "touchy" as some of the related novelties..

Nice plant Steve!

I got many buds on my plant
I will post when in bloom

These mamms are very tender

Surprised you say they are tender Craig. Mine has come through in an unheated greenhouse over winter in the UK for many years. However with a lot of plants it is acclimatisation. If it has been grown in warm conditions and not gradually dried off by withholding water before winter starts, cold will probably kill them.

I use the term tender in reference to the suppleness and fragility of the plant.
Like a soft skin covered jello.
If I was to drop the plant, it would break into 20 unrecoverable pieces

The species is much more hearty than the saboa clan, but can't be called easy,
I've lost more than a couple over the years

Here's mine from the north, I think these 2 will open in a few days. This is a grafted plant, unfortunately.

Not exactly May but the first of them opened on June 2nd...not the colour I was expecting. Honestly I'm not even sure if this is M. theresae anymore. Flowers are close to magenta than light pink that prevails the web. Could this be a hybrid?

MagiCarpus wrote:Not exactly May but the first of them opened on June 2nd...not the colour I was expecting. Honestly I'm not even sure if this is M. theresae anymore. Flowers are close to magenta than light pink that prevails the web. Could this be a hybrid?

Many cactus species exhibit a rather significant amount of variability. Unfortunately I haven't seen enough examples of M. theresae to know for sure if you're looking at one or if it's a hybrid of some sort. In either case, that's a very attractive Mamm you've got -- congrats!

It's possible it is a hybrid with one of the related M. saboae forms, or a form itself. Of those it looks closest to M. saboae haudeana?

http://www.cactus-art.biz/schede/MAMMIL ... udeana.htm