I've looked through the Cacti Guide several times and can't see anything like this one. So I'd very much appreciate help from an expert.
The plant is about 2.5 inches in diameter and hasn't flowered yet. The spines or glochids are very fine and white with even finer filaments branching from either side, just like a feather. Below the layer of white "feathers" the form of the plant is like a Mammillaria with tubercules.
Definitely! I have two of them. For whatever reason, both of mine sunk in on one half after I got them and then started over from there. I think it may have been sun/heat scorch, but since the spines cover the stem, I just didn't know what was happening.
All Cacti are succulents, but not all succulents are Cacti
Steve, Harriet and Daiv, thanks for your help with this one. I haven't had the sinking on one side problem with this plant as yet. We had a very wet Spring here after a hot spell in March which encouraged me to bring the plants out of the greenhouse. Since then I've had to keep covering them to stop them getting too wet! Summer has eventually arrived now and all are doing well. The only casualty was my Astrophytum ornatum which needed surgery to remove rot where early flowers had died. To my relief it has survived.
