Mammillaria orcuttii

I received this Mammillaria orcuttii CS 592. I'm quite surprised because it is very woolly.
The pictures I've seen so far showed less woolly plants. That said, I find it very beautiful

Looks exactly like the plant pictured on the web-site for Le Jardin de Monsieur Semper, even down to the gravel in the pot! The site also believes it to be M. Orcuttii CS592, as it's pictured under the heading M. Orcuttii. It does have rather more wool than one might expect for M. Orcuttii, which tends to be more woolly around the crown, not all over. Is it a young plant, as a more mature plant would have lost it's radial spines by now. The other plant that springs to mind, with a similar appearance, is M. formosa ssp. psuedocrucigera, of which I have a very woolly specimen. This plant is believed to be the link between M. formosa and M. sempervivi. Some wholesalers still sell it as M. sempervivi, as was mine. You need to see your plant's flowers which should be dark pink, whereas, m. psuedocrucigera should have pink striped petals. Fruit and seed doesn't help, as both have dark red fruit and brown seed. I liken it also to another member of the formosa group, m. chionocephala, which I have seen very woolly specimens before, that would have white flowers.

OK! I'll wait for flowering.
Just a clarification ... it is normal that it is the same photo as "Le Jardin de Mr Semper" ... this is my site... look my signature

It is more normal for the wool to be towards the top of the plant, as you can see from this habitat photo.



The presence and retention of the whispy radial spines does make me doubt it as M. orcuttii. Do you know who CS is, as I can find three CS references in the Field Collector Database - of whom two appear to bhave die din the 1970's so plant material after many generations could be suspect.

I can not find information for CS592. this number is doubtful !!!!

OK, I did some digging, and Google led me to an eBay seller. CS592 is the catalogue number used by him, it isn't a field number. Did you buy it from there, because if so, you might like to ask him the source of the seed, as that might shed a bit more light on the matter.

I think that this plant could be Mammillaria hahniana maybe ssp bravoe.
These central spines are not so stronger like in M.orcuttiii...

I agree, Maurillio, there is wool, but also hairs in the axils, w huich seems much more likely to be pone of the hahniana forms. u

The problem of the radial spines, the thin and two central spines arises for this LAU 632 that I found in the collection of my friend Ento.
Now ...
Is this is the real LAU 632?
If so, it seems very far from the original description of Mammillaria orcuttii....

Attached are some habitat photos of M. orcuttii from Valle de los Fantasmas, which is close to the Lau 632 location of Alvarez. Nowadays this taxon from Valle de los Fantasmas is generally considered to be M. orcuttii. It is a fantastic plant, especially when you see it in flower in habitat. Notice the radial spines in some of my photos!

Wolter ten Hoeve.

The photos in habitat are clear.

Your photos, Wolter, prompted me to look up my own from when I went through the Valle de las Fantasmas in 2010. And just look at the radial spines in the spine cluster just towards the bottom of the wool, at the front. Many small white flimsy radial spines. It would seem that they are very deciduous in habitat at least, but maybe not in European cultivation.

I think the lack of 4-5 stout central spines is more significant though.....and maybe enough to distinguish a plant from the 2 spined and non-deciduous radial spined M. hahniana woodsii, which is what I think the queried plants could very well be, and regrettably Ento's plant as well.