Easily clustering and easily flowered it is one of the largest of all
Most plants will offset readily, and huge clumps can be produced in a
very few years.
cactus, solitary at first, later forming massive clumps to 1 m wide.
Stems: Club shaped to cylindrical, bluish grey-green, up to 10 cm
in diameter, up to 25 cm tall. With latex. Tubercles are prominent, close set, firm, bluntly angled
and keeled. The Axil bears white wool and bristles.
Central spines: Absent.
Radial spines: 4 - 6, unequal, chalky white with brownish tips, 20
- 70 mm long, some very short
Flowers: Bell shaped, purplish pink to deep red, 1-1,5 cm in
Blooming season: Winter, early spring.
Fruits: Club shaped, red.
Cultivation: It is a rapid growing
that will form large clumps rather rapidly when compared to other
Mammillaria species. Needs lots and lots of space to grow.
Water regularly in summer, but do not overwater (Rot
prone) Use pot with good drainage and a
very porous potting media, keep dry in winter.
Feed with a high
potassium fertilizer in summer.
It is quite frost resistant if kept dry, hardy as low as -5° C (some
reports give it hardy to -12°C) Outside full sun or
afternoon shade, inside needs bright light, and some direct sun.
Propagation: Division, direct sow after last
Picture of conspecific taxa, varieties,
forms and cultivars:
Mammillaria compressa DC.
Mem. Mus. Nat. Hist.
Paris 17: 112 (1828) First description
Central Mexico (Hidalgo, Queretaro, San Luis Potosi)
Habitat: Grows at an altitude of 1.300 - 2.240 m.
Conservation status: Listed in
CITES appendix 2.
Common Names include: Mother of Hundreds
- Cactus compressus
- Neomammillaria compressa,
- Mammillaria angularis
- Mammillaria angularis var. compressa
- Mammillaria bernalensis
- Mammillaria esseriana
- Mammillaria tolimensis
- Mammillaria centricirrha var. conopsea
- Mammillaria conopsea
- Mammillaria cirrhifera
- Cactus conopseus
This is one of the easiest species to grow with lots of bright
purple-pink flowers blooming abundantly in spring,