In the late spring of '09 I bought a handful of Mammillaria grahamii (SB 507; Dona Ana County, New Mexico) from Kakteen-Haage. A few months after receiving the plants they flowered vigorously.
Mammillaria grahamii flower
The all-pink petals and filaments are beautifully contrasted by the bright yellow anthers and the dusty chartreuse stigma. I cross-pollinated several of the flowers and hope for seeds next year.
Flowering Mammillaria grahamii
I bought the plants for my cold house as Mammillaria grahamii is said to be relatively cold hardy. If they survive the current cold snap I guess they can survive anything (in relation to Danish winters, that is ;-) The current freezing conditions have lasted since before Christmas with outdoor temperatures as low as -15 C (5 F) so I hope the plants are not frozen solid.
Hooked Mammillaria grahamii spine
Seeing the Mammillaria grahamii spines up close it is easy to understand why it is also called fish-hook cactus ;-)
Album der natuur. 1894 (added: 11/18/2024)
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*Publication Info:*
Haarlem :A. C. Kruseman ,1852-1909.
*Call Number:*
QK1 .A3655
*Contributing Library:*
Missouri Botanical Garden
15 hours ago
Definitely one of my favorites! I had the chance to see them in their natural settings in Santa Ana and Magdalena de Kino, Sonora. The flowering is just gorgeous and the spination is much more dense of course, specially by the radial ones, which cover almost the entire plant, in part because the tubercles tend to grow much more closer.
ReplyDeleteLove it!!
Great photos! One of mine is in flower right now as well. Hopefully it stays a little longer so that I can share some photos.
ReplyDeleteLove it! Great pics!
ReplyDeleteT.I.B, I'm looking forward to seeing your photos. Seems like you've got an interesting blog going - I enjoyed the "gory", dissected prickly pear fruit ;-)
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of pictures, Kauderwelsch do you by any chance have any habitat pictures of Mammillaria grahamii that you would be willing to share?
I used to have some, but two of my hard drives just crashed all of the sudden two years ago and guess what... :(:( no backup!
ReplyDeleteBut somehow I managed to save just one of M. grahamii precisely, and it os already available on the net if you click on my name. It's the only one I have now :(
It was taken during a trip to Sonora/Arizona some years ago. The place is in the outskirts of a village called Santa Ana, some 40 mins. drive south of the border. It was growing close to some 60 cm high seedlings of C.gigantea and probably Pachycereus schottii.
Ah, I didn't notice the link - nice photo and as you said the spination is much denser than on my plants. Hope they develop a similar look with time.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about your hard drives, it's very frustrating to loose data like that. I had a similar experience a couple of year ago - I thought I had a backup but it turned out to be more than 1 year old :-/ Now I try to backup everything at least every couple of months - that's the intention anyway but I have to admit that I still often forget it... probably ought to automate it ;-)
Mammillaria grahamii is considered to be one of the "Lost Peyotes". It may be psychoactive and was likely used by Native Americans for medicinal or inebriating purposes.
ReplyDelete