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MAMMILLARIA

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Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 926 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MAMMILLARIA .-ThiS genus, which comprises nearly 300 See also:

species, mostly Mexican, with a few Brazilian and See also:West See also:Indian, is called nipple See also:cactus, and consists of globular or cylindrical succulent See also:plants, whose See also:surface instead of being cut up into ridges with alternate furrows, as in See also:Melocactus, is broken up into teat-like cylindrical or angular tubercles, spirally arranged, and terminating in a radiating tuft of spines which See also:spring from a little woolly See also:cushion. The See also:flowers issue from between the mammillae, towards the upper See also:part of the See also:stem, often disposed in a See also:zone just below the See also:apex, and are either See also:purple, See also:rose-See also:pink, See also:white or yellow, and of moderate See also:size. The spines are variously coloured, white and yellow tints predominating, and from the symmetrical arrangement of the areolae or tufts of spines they are very See also:pretty See also:objects, and are hence frequently kept in See also:drawing-See also:room-plant cases. They grow freely in a cool greenhouse. EcxnNOCACTUS (fig. 2) is the name given to the genus bearing the popular name of See also:hedgehog cactus. It comprises some 200 species, distributed from the See also:south-west See also:United States to See also:Brazil and See also:Chile. They have the fleshy stems characteristic of the See also:order, these being either globose, oblong or cylin- drical, and either ribbed as in Melocactus, or broken up into distinct tubercles, and most of them armed with stiff See also:sharp pines, set in little woolly cushions occupying the See also:place of the buds. The flowers, produced near the apex of the plant, are generally large and showy, yellow and rose being the prevailing See also:colours. They are succeeded by succulent fruits, which are exserted, and frequently scaly or spiny, in which respects this genus differs both from Melocactus and Mammillaria, which have the fruits immersed and smooth. One of the most interesting species is the E. ingens, of which some very large plants have been from See also:time to time imported. These large plants have from 40 to 5o ridges, on which the buds and clusters of spines are sunk at intervals, the aggregate number of the spines having been in some cases computed at FIG.

2.—Echinoc¢ctus much upwards of 50,000 on a single reduced; the flowers are several plant. These spines are used by inches in See also:

diameter. the Mexicans as toothpicks. The plants are slow growers and must have plenty of See also:sun See also:heat; they require sandy See also:loam with a mixture of See also:sand and bricks finely broken and must be kept dry in See also:winter. CEREUs.—This See also:group bears the See also:common name of See also:torch See also:thistle. It comprises about too species, largely Mexican but scattered through South See also:America and the West Indies. The sterns are colum nar or elongated, some of the latter creeping on the ground or climbing up the trunks of trees, rooting as they grow. C. giganteus, the largest and most striking species of the genus, is a native of hot, arid, See also:desert regions of New See also:Mexico, growing there in rocky valleys and on See also:mountain sides, where the tall stems with their erect branches have the See also:appearance of See also:telegraph poles. The stems grow to a height of from 50 ft. to 6o ft., and have a diameter of from t ft. to 2 ft., often unbranched, but sometimes furnished with branches which grow out at right angles from the See also:main stem, and then See also:curve upwards and continue their growth parallel to it; these stems have from twelve to twenty ribs, on which at intervals of about an See also:inch are the buds with their thick yellow cushions, from which issue five or six large and numerous smaller spines. The fruits of this plant, which are See also:green See also:oval bodies from 2 to 3 in. See also:long, contain a See also:crimson pulp from which the Pimos and Papagos See also:Indians prepare an excellent preserve; and they also use the ripe See also:fruit as an See also:article of See also:food, gathering it by means of a forked stick attached to a long See also:pole. The Cereuses include some of our most interesting and beautiful hothouse plants. In the allied genus Echinocereus, with 25 to 30 species in See also:North and South America, the stems are See also:short, branched or See also:simple, divided into few or many ridges all armed with sharp, formidable spines.

E. pectinatus produces a purplish fruit resembling a See also:

gooseberry, which is very See also:good eating; and the fleshy part of the stem itself, which is called cabeza del viego by the Mexicans, is eaten by them as a See also:vegetable after removing the spines.

End of Article: MAMMILLARIA

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