Xerophyte

Habit

Plants, at first solitary, will form clusters up to 7 cm wide in the course of time.

Central Spines

1-3, brownish red with yellow bases, covered with white pubescence, 10-12 mm long, one hooked. The additional central spines (if present), are similar to the radial.

Seeds

Black.

Description

Mammillaria pennispinosa is one of the most peculiar mammillaria species whit green body almost completely obscured by the creamy-white to pale pink and orange-pink plumose (feathery) radial spines and the brown hooked central. Two subspecies are recognized, the nominate form and subsp. nazasensis (Glass & R.C.Foster) D.R.Hunt.

Roots

Tick taproots.

Tubercles

Flabby, cylindrical, The axil is woolly at first, later naked.

Flowers

White with pink-carmine central veins, up to 15 mm long and in diameter.

Blooming Season

Winter to spring, the flowers remain open for five or six days, exceptionally more.

Stem

Globular, 3-4 cm high and in diameter. Without lacteal juice.

Radial Spines

16-20, featherlike, slender, straight, plumose, grayish-white to yellow to orange to reddish, 5-8 long.

Fruits

Red, 15-20 mm long.