Xerophyte

Central Spines

4-6, white with yellow tips, upper and lower ones hooked.

Seeds

Black.

Description

Mammillaria senilisSN|9677]]SN|9677]] is a very ornamental cactus species that looks like a cotton ball with small but deadly sharp, glistening hooked white spines and many white radials. The large red flowers are very showy too.Habit. Branching basally to form clumps.

Flowers

Usually orange-red, but also yellow or near white to pink (rare), 60 - 70 mm long, 55-60 mm in diameter. Floral tubes slender, scaly, to 4 cm long.

Blooming Season

February and March.

Stem

Globose to cylindrical, up to 15 cm tall and 10 cm wide. The tubercles are conical, obtuse with wool and bristles in the axil. Without latex.

Radial Spines

30-40, thinner than the centrals, white, to 20 mm long.

Fruits

Silvery red to greenish white.