Mammillaria occidentalis

From "The Journal of the Mammillaria Society" - vol.5 - n.2 - pag.19
No.29. Mammillaria occidentalis (Britten and Rose) Baedeker
Neomammillaria occidentalis Britton and Rose,The Cactaceae, 4:161, 1923.
Chilita occidentalis Orcutt, Cactography, 2, .1926.
Mammillaria occidentalis Boedeker, Mammill. Vergl. Schluss., 36, 1933.
Body:- Cespitose from the base, slender cylindric, to 15 cm. high, 2-3 cm. wide.
Tubercles arranged in 5 and 8 spirals, firm in texture, conical, with watery sap, 5 mm. long, 3-4 mm. wide at the base. Areoles oval, with dirty white wool in youth, soon becoming naked. Axils without wool, but bearing . occasional scattered white bristles.
Spines:- Central spines, 4-5, 5-12 mm. long, acicular, the upper ones straight, the lower one. hooked or sometimes straight, all smooth, stiff, reddish brown divergent porrect. Radial spines 12-18, 3-8 mm. long, slender acicular,straight, smooth, stiff, white to yellowish brown at the tip, slightly ascending.
Flower:- Tubular, 10 mm. long. Outer perianth segments, brownish pink mid-stripe, pink margins, lanceolate, tip acuminate, margins serrate. Inner perianth segments pink to deep pink, darker mid-line, linear-lanceolate, tip acuminate, margins mostly entire. Filaments reddish.Anthers yellow.
Stigma lobes 8-9, olive-green.
Fruit:- Reddish, clavate.
Seeds:- Black, clavate.
Type Locality: - Manzanillo, Colima, Sinaloa, Mexico.
Distribution:- Colima, Nayarit, Sinaloa, Mexico.





Mammillaria occidentalis
Manzanillo - Colima - Mexico
Referred to Mammillaria mazatlanensis ssp. mazatlanensis












Mammillaria occidentalis

Mammillaria occidentalis
Barra de Navidad - California - U.S.A.
From Kakteen-Haage

From "The Journal of the Mammillaria Society" - vol.4 - n.1 - pag.54
Mammillaria occidentalis v. sinalensis
I see from Craig, Mammillaria Handbook, p.169 that the flower of this plant is unknown. My plant has just flowered, so I am sending you a description for the Journal.
The plant I have is an exact replica of the photograph on page 169 of the Handbook, except that it has rather more offsets, but the surprising
thing is that the flower is so different. The flower of Mammillaria occidentalis (B.et Rose) Boedeker is a small 10 mm. red tubular flower, whilst
the flowers produced by my plant of M. occidentalis var. sinalensis are very much larger, and bear a superficial likeness to those of MM. sheldonii, swinglei, and microcarpa.
Craig says that this may be a distinct species, but that data on the flower is awaited. It would seem that his thoughts were correct!
Mammillaria occidentalis var. sinalensis.
Flowers: 20 mm. long x 30 mm. wide, campanulate. Outer Perianth Segments: Mid-stripe brownish-pink, margins pale pinkish silvery grey, obtuse, margins occasionally serrate. Inner Perianth Segments: Mid-stripe deep mauvish-pink, margins pale
mauvish pink with darker throat, lanceolate, tip acuminate, margins entire.
Filaments : Purplish-red. Anthers: Golden yellow. Style: Pale mauvish-pink. Stigma-lobes: 6 - 7 pale olive green, overtop anthers to height of outer perianth segments.
Type Locality:- Arroyo de Ibana, near Rosario.
Distribution:- Sinaloa, Mexico.





Mammillaria occidentalis v. sinalensis HK 500