Lacespine nipple cactus

Description

Mammillaria magallanii is a species of plant in the genus Mammillaria in the cactus family (Cactaceae). The specific epithet honors Pedro Magallan, probably a collector for the Mexican plant dealer Ferdinand Schmoll. Mammillaria magallanii usually grows singly. The spherical to club-shaped, green shoots are up to 6 centimeters high and up to 4.5 centimeters in diameter. The warts are cylindrical in shape and have no milky sap. The axillae are covered with sparse wool. Central spines are usually absent. Sometimes there is a central spine, 3 millimeters long, straight, curved, or hooked with an orange-ochre coloration and a brown tip. The 70 to 75 interlocking radial spines are chalky white with an orange-ochre base and are 2 to 5 millimeters long. The cream-colored flowers have a pink to brownish central stripe. They are 1 centimeter long and have the same diameter. The red fruits contain black seeds. Mammillaria magallanii is distributed in the Mexican states of Coahuila, Durango and Zacatecas. The first description was in 1945 by Robert T. Craig. Nomenclatural synonyms are Ebnerella magallanii (Schmoll ex RTCraig) Buxb. (1951), Chilita magallanii (Schmoll ex RTCraig) Buxb. (1954), Neomammillaria magallanii (Schmoll ex RTCraig) Y. Itô (1981), Mammillaria lasiacantha subsp. magallanii (Schmoll ex RTCraig) DRHunt (1997), Escobariopsis lasiacantha subsp. magallanii (Schmoll ex RTCraig) Doweld (2000) and Mammillaria lasiacantha f. magallanii (Schmoll ex RTCraig) WAFitz Maur. & B. Fitz Maur. (2005). Mammillaria is one of the largest genera in the cactus family (Cactaceae), with currently 200 known species and varieties recognized. Most of the mammillaria are native to Mexico, but some come from the southwest United States, the Caribbean, Colombia, Venezuela, Guatemala and Honduras. The common name "pincushion cactus" refers to this and the closely related genus Escobaria. The first species was described by Carl Linnaeus as Cactus mammillaris in 1753, deriving its name from 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 may also be used for related taxa, particularly Escobaria.