Mammillaria peredelarosae?

[hostilis]

I found this sexy cacti today at the local big box store while simultaneously giving the bored workers there a crash course on their cacti plants which they knew nothing about. They had what looked like M. perezdelarosae. Which made me very happy it being one of my favorite plants. I was confused though because my other M. perez only has 1 center hooked spine on each areole but this one out of the bunch has three on each areole and was much more beautiful than the rest.

What do you all think? Is it an M. perezdelarosae?

[zelly]

well whadya know, learn something new every day!

For years I've been calling mine an M bombycina, because thats what I thought it was......but according to cactus-art, (based on the lighter pink flowers) its actually an M perezdelarosae.

One potful is the 'hanging basket' variety....

yes, I think your plant is an M perezdelarosae, probably grown under optimum conditions.....

[hostilis]

Wow, that's awesome. I love how its branching off by spitting into separate heads rather than pupping. Or is it actually pupping? I can't tell for sure. How old is that plant?

Here's a picture of my other M. perezdelarosae.

EDIT: The thing that confuses me is that every other M. perez that I've seen only has 1 center spine. This new one I have has 3 on each areole. And out of all them at the store it was the only one with more than 1 center spine. I wonder if it's just a genetic characteristic. I'll have to cross these two when they flower and plant the seeds and see what happens. I actually have 10 seeds that I will be planting in my next sowing, This is probably my favorite mammillaria.

Edited March 2, 2014 by hostilis

[zelly]

It's probably just pupping but gravity is turning them into branches...it started out as two plants looking like yours, then they got taller & flopped over on their sides, so I just hung them over the edge of the tray they're in & let them do their thing...they're in a 4" pot, so I have to keep a big rock on top to keep the whole mess from flipping over and falling on the brick floor of the gh.

here's another potful, fortunately these are more of the clumping variety LoL, locked in place by the rim of a crumbling clay pot.. The rim of the pot is 8" in diameter

kinda crappy pic but you get the idea. They seem to flower 2-3 times a yr & only get morning sun.

edited to add if I look closely I can see 2 & sometimes 3 hooks per aerole on some but not aeroles. Most have 1 hook & two other non-hooked main spines

Edited March 2, 2014 by zelly

[hostilis]

Okay, now that you say that I see that the newest one I got has 1 hooked and 2 non hooked per areole. Maybe when the smaller one gets older it will start doing that as well. It's still pretty young and the other one looks older.

You need to rescue that one from that little pot! Lol.

[hostilis]

It turns out that this isn't a perezdelarosae. It's a Mammillaria bombycina "Split spines" cv. Trispina.

[Quixote]

while simultaneously giving the bored workers there a crash course on their cacti plants which they knew nothing about.

I'm sure they thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated that

[hostilis]

I had fun. Lol. They all know me now because I go there looking for grafting stock all the time and stay for a while checking out plants.