Xerophyte

Habit

It usually stays solitary, or occasionally clusters from the base.

Central Spines

Absent.

Seeds

Blackish brown.

Description

Mammillaria herreraeSN|9214]]SN|9214]] is small growing cactus that look like a little golf ball. The most striking feature is dense addpressed, white spination it possesses, which serve to protect it from the harsh sun common to its native habitat. More precisely the spines benefit the plant by reducing sun exposure and by trapping a layer of air next to the cactus body. This helps to cool the plant in the summer and keep it warm in the winter.

Tubercles

Closely set, cylindrical, terminally truncate. The axil is naked.

Flowers

Diurnal, quite large for a Mammillaria, pale pink to red-violet, 20 - 25 mm long and very showy.

Blooming Season

April to May, it starts flowering when it gets to be 5-7 years old, and reaches at least 3 cm in diameter.

Stem

Globose or slightly elongated as it ages, 2 - 3.5 cm in diameter and height. (In cultivation it can grow very slowly up to 8 cm tall). Without latex.

Radial Spines

100 or more, unequal, interlacing, bristly, white or grey, 1-5 mm long.

Fruits

Globose, whitish, small.