Xerophyte

Habit

Plants usually solitary occasionally clumping.

Central Spines

1-3, straight, needle-like, yellowish brown to brown, 7-8 mm long.

Seeds

Brown.

Description

Mammillaria backebergianaSN|13783]]SN|9157]] is an attractive slender columnar cactus with yellowy or brownish-yellow spines and great purplish red flowers circling near the top of the plant during growing season. Two subspecies are recognized, the nominate and subsp. ernestii (Fittkau) Glass & R.A.Foster.

Similar Species

Mammillaria backebergianaSN|9157]]SN|9157]] is related and similar to Mammillaria spinosissimaSN|9157]]SN|13783]] and its allies, but its stems are more slender.

Tubercles

Short pyramidal, not angled, with latex, axils naked or with a few bristles.

Flowers

Freely produced in several rings in the crown. Purplish red, 18-20 mm long, 10-13 mm in diameter. Stigmas green.

Stem

Globose becoming cylindrical, to 30 cm high, 5-6 cm in diameter, clear green, waxy.

Radial Spines

(8-)10-12, yellowish white with brown tips, becoming darker with age, 8-10 mm long.

Fruits

Dull green above, whitish below, tinting purplish red in maturity.