Xerophyte

Habit

Usually solitary barely rising above ground level.

Central Spines

1 to 4, of which one or more hooked, 3-4 mm long, yellowish white, thin, acicular and slightly pubescent.

Seeds

Blackish brown.

Description

Mammillaria tezontleSN|8841]]SN|8879]] is a minuscule cactus with delicate near harmless feathery spines densely wrapped against the body of the plant. Hunt has been subsumed it into the broader definition of Mammillaria crinitaSN|8879]]SN|8841]], but is nevertheless a distinctive taxon with its rather neat, short, yellow central spination and relatively large flowers.

Axils

With wool and occasionally bristles.

Roots

Thick fibrous.

Note

The dense covering of spines reduces the interception of solar radiation by the stem surface lowering the risks of overheating the apex during a summer day and of freezing during a winter night.

Flowers

Funnel-form, yellowish white often with a darker brownish midrib toward the tips , 10 mm long, 15 mm across. Filaments and anthers pale cream-yellowish, style and stigma lobes greenish.

Blooming Season

Flowers readily, and for a long period from spring to the early summer.

Stem

Flattened- globose, depressed apically, soft, dark green,10 mm high, 15-20 mm in diameterand it has clear sap.

Radial Spines

14 to 20, yellowish white, slightly pubescent, 3-5 mm long spreading and interlacing.

Fruits

Green, elongated.