Xerophyte

Central Spines

One at first, hooked, later 2-3, straight, yellow to dark reddish brown, the main central to 12 mm long the other shorter.

Seeds

Black, shining.

Description

Mammillaria weingartianaSN|9390]]SN|9390]] is a small spherical cactus with wonderfully dark hooked central spines contrasted against white radial spines. It can either grows solitary or within small groups. It starts showing buds in the autumn, but these will not develop much before late winter or early spring. The pale greenish-yellow to cream-yellow flower are about 1 cm long. M. weingartiana probably require short days to initiate bud formation and is able to maintain growth at rather lower temperatures than other Mammillarias. It may be of significance that most of the plants falling into this category have heavy tuberous roots, which function for storage purposes rather than for the transport of moisture and nutrients. It starts the year out by putting out a ring of flowers, sometimes as early as the end of December, continues into February and March, and repeats this performance several more times during the year.

Tubercles

Slender conical, sub-truncated, without latex, axils naked.

Flowers

Pale greenish yellow to creamy yellow, but also white or light pink, with pink to pinkish brown midveins on some petals, with fringed margins, 7-10 mm long and in diameter.

Blooming Season

February and March.

Stem

Globose, tuberous below, dark green, slightly glossy. In habitat the plants are to 4-5 cm across, and only the flat top of the plant is above ground level while in cultivation they usually develop a globose above ground stem, but and you can get the same flattop effect in cultivation if you give the plants a lot of light.

Radial Spines

16-25, white, straight, very thin, 6-8 mm long, horizontally spreading.

Fruits

Small, club shaped, red.

Areoles

At first with few white wool, soon becoming glabrous.