Id request

Hi, I'm new to the forum i'm from Perth , Western Australia. I have this rather nice Mammilaria bought without a name. Anyone know its identity ?

Probably m. rekoi.

Thank you Delandmo.

A year on, just didnt match rekoi, nunezii etc very well; finally stumbled across Mammillaria magnifica which I initially didnt look closely at due to the pale spines, but have seen red spined versions recently and it seems to match very well, including the tendency to lose the hooked spines, current growth is all straight spines.

I doubted that it was M. magnifica as the flowers just didn't match. They are typically red, but fading to almost white in the centre. giving a rather pale appearance.
Like you, I have seen photos on the web with darker spines, and these plants seem to have more uniformly shaded petals and more purple than red. I'm by no means sure that these are true to the species, and might be oddities subsequently propagated for commercial benefit.

I am always concerned about hybridisation of plants, and the subsequent variation of forms that appear. With the absence of imports of genuine seed from Mexico, this, sadly imho, will just continue. The establishment of reference collections is therefore important bu the relevant botanic institutions in our countries. Again here, shortage of funds means that proper care is unlikely to take place.

OK, rant over.

I personally don't think it's m. magnifica, I stick.

Many thanks Delandmo, I will certainly keep that in mind I appreciate the input of experience growers. I actually viewed some magnifica today and yes they did look a bit different, more elongated than my plant , shallower tubercles and less dense radials. Also as Chris pointed out ..different flower. Maybe mine is a Rekoi of some sort or a hybrid.

Thanks Chris, just noticed your comment too. Ah yes, I see, Magnifica flowers are quite different even the red spined ones Yes I agree it is very likely that it is a hybrid of some sort. Maybe between magnifica and the one of the red spined spinosissima's. I am well aware of the problems associated with keeping true species/forms separate, and as I did purchase this unnamed it will very likely just remain "Mammillaria" as I am interested in collecting multiple of true forms as much as possible in order to produce true seed as this seems very low if not non existant priority where I live. It is a nice looking plant though.

Yes, much nicer if you can get plants with field collection numbers. Better still try sowing some seeds with similar data. If you become a member of the Mammillaria Society, if you aren't already, you could get some choice seeds at the end of the year for a little cost.

Thanks for the advert!!

The Mammillaria Society annual seed distribution of some 20-30 species typically is at no charge for the seed, just for postage and packing. All part of our low annual membership.

Just so you know, I am the chair of the Mammillaria Society, as well as running this forum, and I try mostly to keep these two roles separate.

When this forum was created, Hugo de Cock (RIP) and I decided that we would run this independently from any cactus society. It will continue to be independent.

And in that spirit, though not free, the German Mammillaria Society offers its members a very large selection of seeds, Mammillarias mostly, but also of other genera. You do have to be a member,and be able to understand enough German to as naturally most of their articles are in German these days.

Thanks Chris and delandmo. I have actually been growing quite a bit from seed last two years, this year more heavily weighted to Mammillaria than last. I do try and favour seed with collection numbers or at least location data where possible. This year I have received seed from Mesa and Koehres and waiting on one from Gerado. I am a member of our local cactus society but there is no formal seed distribution at this point in time, I would consider the Mammillaria Society but being in Australia we have some very stringent import conditions..the latest being that all seed coming in must be from a commercial supplier and in commercial packaging. I tried to find out exactly what that means but the authorities themselves don't seem to be able to define it, basically leaves the door open for them to reject whatever they don't like the look of, but at least they seem to want a commercial invoice together with sealed packaging with print or sticker showing the business name, address and species name on package which then must be reflected on the invoice...phew. As you would know even commercial cactus nurseries that distribute seed do not usually come close to this. Mesa is closest I have seen so far and their package was checked and came through OK. I have had one package rejected already due to the seller being a specialist hobbyist and not a commercial business. So i'm not confident that seed coming in from any organised collective of hobbyists would pass inspection. Having re-entered the hobby in recent years I was a bit taken aback by new import rules/cites etc all things that make it quite difficult to get new material into Australia so this has given me the direction to try collect multiples of true forms so that in future I may be able to help distribute true seed to others.

With the best will in the world it isn't always possible to collect true to type seed in your average greenhouse without it being accidentally cross pollinated by bugs. It needs to be a stringently monitored process, clean pollinator brush or similar, then wrapped in a polythene bag to protect the flower after pollinating. Even from the most ardent wholesale seed suppliers, I doubt nowadays that not all the seed supplied produces plants looking exactly like the original field collected plant. The best way to reproduce a true to type specimen is by vegetative means, taking cuttings or offsets.