Mammilaria sphaerica, hard to come by?

[Mrs.Green]

I have been looking for M.sphaerica for some time but haven’t seen anyone in Norway offering it yet. That said, its very few shops that offers more uncommom cacti on a regular basis ( as far as I know). Does I just live in the wrong country or is M.sphaerica just not that commonly available ?

[DaveW]

Used to be sometimes available in the UK. Have you tried looking for seed as it is not difficult to raise or browse EU dealers since I believe Norway can import easily from the EU? May be a few dead links in the lists below but you can browse their lists online and most now take email orders and PayPal to remove problem of currency exchange.

http://www.cactus-mall.com/seeds.html

http://www.cactus-mall.com/nurseryeu.html

I think the one that stands out most from the rest with the black centrals is Dolichothele melaleuca.

http://www.llifle.com/Encyclopedia/CACT ... _melaleuca

[MrXeric]

A local hardware store garden center (Home Depot) had rooted cuttings of M. sphaerica last year. Bought one for $4 USD. Never seen them sell those before, or since.

[DaveW]

Dolichothele's (now included in Mammillaria) are not hard to raise from seed. I am not the best seed raiser but have done so in the past. Incidentally if you "Google" Dolichothele you will also bring up a genus of spiders. Why you can use the same generic name in both zoology and botany I do not know?

One species that appeared for a time as seed but seems to have disappeared again is Dolichothele paulii. I raised a couple but lost them in a bad winter.

https://forum.bcss.org.uk/viewtopic.php?t=96281

https://mammillaria.forumotion.net/t134 ... nov-linzen

Most Dolichothele's are similar to Dolichothele longimamma but these two are different,

Dolichothele baumii

dolichothele baumii.jpg (71.22 KiB) Viewed 465 times

Dolichothele surculosa

Dolichothele surculosa.jpg (101.17 KiB) Viewed 465 times

At one time, I think it was Backeberg, included Mammillaria decipiens and Mammillaria camptotricha in Dolichothele, but they are not really related so excluded now.

[Mrs.Green]

Thanks a lot DaveW and MrXeric DaveW; you are always offering a lot of interesting links and facts, thank you I have to admit I would prefer to obtain a plant rather than sowing it myself. The reason for my interest in M.sphaerica is the big yellow flowers one could ( hopefully) enjoy. The flowers seems to be even bigger than on M.longimamma? Not that longimamma seems to be more available here ( as a plant) than sphaerica for that matter..