Xerophyte

Habit

It is a small free branching plant that forms low clusters or dense cushions. Individual stems are globose.

Central Spines

1 longer erect, straight or hooked, 5-7 mm long, white, brown on the tip, and 4 to 7 straight, 4-6 mm long, more or less orderly, dispersing to the sides, while difficult to distinguish from radials.

Seeds

Pear-shaped, 1.2 X 1.0 mm, black.

Description

Mammillaria glassiiSN|5392]]SN|5392]] var. ascensionis is a controversial variety of Mammillaria glassiiSN|9303]]SN|5392]] now reduced to synonym. It distinguish for its larger stems (up to 10 cm in diameter), axil almost naked with short wool and few (If any) bristles. Central spines 7-7 mm long, flowers larger up to 18-22 mm wide.

Note

Vaguely resembles Mammillaria proliferaSN|5392]]SN|9303]]. Glass and Foster consider it a variety of Mammillaria glassiiSN|5392]]SN|5392]].

Tubercles

Cylindrical with usually short white hairs and about 3-8 hairlike bristles in the axil up to 3-15 mm long.

Flowers

Often not opening completely, white, with a pink nuance, usually 16-18 X 18-22 mm

Stem

Globular 40-50 mm in diameter, becoming cylindrical, to 10 cm high. Without latex

Radial Spines

50-75, 4-14 mm long, , interlacing, hairlike, white.

Fruits

15-17 Long, 3-5 mm in diameter, greenish- white to pale pinkish-olive. Ripens about 3 months after flowering.