SP 
70 THE CACTACEAE. 
1. Neomammillaria mammillaris (Linnaeus). 
Cactus mammillaris Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 466. 1753. 
Cactus mammillaris glaber De Candolle, Pl. Succ. 137. 1799. 
7 Mammillaria simplex Haworth, Syn. Pl. Suce. 177. 1812. 
? Mammillaria conica * Haworth, Suppl. Pl. Suce. 71. 1819. 
Mammillaria parvimamma Haworth, Suppl. Pl. Succ. 72. 1819. 
Cactus microthele Sprengel, Syst. 2: 494. 1825. 
Mammiullaria simplex parvimamma Lemaire, Cact. Gen. Nov. Sp. 98. 1839. 
> Mammillaria caracassanat Otto in Salm-Dyck, Cact. Hort. Dyck. 1849. 107. 1850. 
Mammillaria mammillaris Karsten, Deutsche Fl. 888. 1882. 
? Cactus conicus Kuntze, Rev. Gen. Pl. 1: 259. 1891. 
Cactus parvimammus Kuntze, Rev. Gen. Pl. 1: 259. 1891. 
Globose to short-cylindric, 4 to 6 cm. high; tubercles short, 5 to 7 mm. long, conic, nearly terete, 
pale green, only slightly woolly in their axils; spine-areoles bearing a dense mass of white wool when 
young; spines reddish brown, acicular; radial spines 10 to 12, spreading, 5 to 7 mm. long; central 
spines 3 or 4, stouter and a little longer than the radials; flowers 8 to 10 mm. long, cream-colored; 
outer perianth-segments narrow, bearing long mucronate tips; fruit 15 to 20 mm. long, red; seeds 
minute, brown. 
Fic. 64.—Neomammillaria mammillaris. Fic. 65.—Neomammiillaria macdougalii. 
Type locality: Tropical America. 
Distribution: Northern Venezuela and neighboring Dutch Islands. 
This plant was the first-known species of the genus and the only one known to Lin- 
naeus; it was described and illustrated by Commelin in 1697 and by Hermann in 1608. 
It was one of the first cacti discovered; Aiton states that it was cultivated by Bishop Comp- 
ton before 1688. The cited distribution of the species has usually been inexact or errone- 
ous; Linnaeus gave no definite locality but restricted it to the warm parts of America. 
Nuttall assigns it also to the hills of the Missouri River, and De Candolle’s range 
covers that of both Linnaeus and of Nuttall. Nuttall’s plant was subsequently found 
to be different from the one of the Caribbean region. Schumann gives the range as the 
West Indies but his description covers two or three species. A number of his references are 
erroneous, for neither Wright’s plant (No. 2619, as Mammiliaria pusilla) from Cuba nor 
Haworth’s plant (Syn. Pl. Suce. 177, as Mammillaria prolifera) from the West Indies belongs 
*T ubercles large, conic; spines less than 10, all radial, red, but paler at base; flowers and fruit unknown. Neither 
Pfeiffer nor Schumann knew this species or its origin. The Index Kewensis refers it to South America. If from that 
region it might be a species of Discocactus, near D. placentiformis, but it may belong here 
t This is the original spelling, but Schumann wrote it M. caracasana. 
