124 THE CACTACEAE. 
Type locality: Northern Mexico. 
Distribution: Northern Mexico. 
This plant for a long time passed in the trade under the name of Mammillaria 
lasiacantha, but it is, of course, very different. It is a very striking species and differs from 
all the others in its feather-like spines. We have had it under observation since 1907 and 
it has only once flowered (1921). 
According to Walton, it is called the feather ball on account of the feather-like spines. 
Illustrations: MOllers Deutsche Gart. Zeit. 25: 475. f. 8, No. 16; Schelle, Handb. 
Kakteenk. 252. f. 173; Ann. Rep. Smiths. Inst. 1908: pl. 3, f. 6; Haage, Cact. Kultur ed. 
2. 189; Journ. Hort. Home Farm. 111. 60: 7, as Mammillaria plumosa; Cact. Journ. 1: pl. 
for February, in part; Darel, Illustr. Handb. Kakteenk. 94. f. 76; Blanc, Hints on Cacti 70. 
f. 1355; Blanc, Illustr. Price List Cacti 13, as M. lasiacantha. 
Figure 131 is from a photograph, furnished by Dr. Safford, showing the spines. 
582. Neomammillaria prolifera (Miller). 
Cactus proliferus* Miller, Gard. Dict. ed. 8. No. 6. 1768. 
Cactus glomeratus Lamarck, Encycl. 1: 537. 1783. 
Cactus mammillaris prolifer Aiton, Hort. Kew. 2: 150. 1789. 
yMammillaria prolifera Haworth, Syn. Pl. Suce. 177. 1812. 
" Cactus pusillus De Candolle, Cact. Hort. Monsp. 184. 1813. Not Haworth, 1803. 
Cactus stellatus Willdenow, Enum. Pl. Suppl. 30. 1813. 
Mammillaria stellaris Haworth, Suppl. Pl. Suce. 72. 1819. 
2Mammillaria pusilla Sweet, Hort. Brit. 171. 1826. 
- Mammiilaria stellata Sweet, Hort. Brit. 171. 1826. 
Mammillaria glomerata De Candolle, Prodr. 3: 459. 1828. 
Mammiultlaria pusilla major Pfeiffer, Enum. Cact. 36. 1837. 
Cactus haworthtianus Kuntze, Rev. Gen.-Pl. 1: 259. 1891. 
Mammillaria pusilla haitiensis Schumann, Bliihende Kakteen 1: under pl. 46. 1904. 
Low, growing in colonies often 6 dm. in diameter, the individual plants globose or cylindric, 
3 to 6 cm. in diameter, of soft texture; tubercles conic, about 8 mm. long, spreading; axils of tubercles 
with long, hair-like bristles; radial spines many, hair-like; central spines 5 to 12, much stouter than 
the radials, with bright yellow tips, puberulent; flowers borne in old axils but.toward top of plant, 
small, yellowish white; inner perianth-segments erect, pale yellow, with brownish mid-rib, acute; 
filaments pale rose-colored; anthers at first deflexed inward: style shcrter than filaments; stigma- 
lobes 3, yellow; fruit crowned by persistent withering perianth, clavate, somewhat curved, 1.5 to 2 
cm. long, scarlet; seeds black, pitted, a little depressed ; aril white, triangular. 
Type locality: West Indies. 
Distribution: Cuba and Hispaniola. Loddiges reports it from South America, 
doubtless in error. 
At the United States Naval Station, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the plant grows in low, 
dry thickets and is quite inconspicuous but abundant. 
Dr. Shafer referred to this species (Bull. N. Y. Bot. Gard. 13: 139) as Mammariella, 
without description or citation. 
Burmann’s plate (201, f. 1) of this plant shows most of the tubercles without spines or 
hairs but these have doubtless been omitted by the artist, for Plumier says (Cat. p. 19): 
‘‘ Melocactus minimus, lanuginosus et tuberosus.”’ 
_ Haworth (Phil. Mag. 7: 114. 1830) would exclude Mammillaria pusilla (Mém. Mus. 
Hist. Nat. Paris 17: pl. 2, f. 1) as figured by De Candolle. His illustration is evidently 
faulty, but his description seems to answer our plant. 
The name Mammillaria pusilla minor occurred in the Index of the Cacti in the 
Botanical Garden of Berlin for 1829 (Verh. Ver. Beford. 6: 429. 1830), but it is without 
description. It is mentioned again by Salm-Dyck (Hort. Dyck. 156. 1834), who credits 
the name to Otto, but he does not describe it. 
3. Otto Kuntze (Rev. Gen. Pl. 1: 259. 1891) publishes this binomial as Cactus prolifer. Pfeiffer (Enum. Cact. 
9. 1837) uses this later binomial for another Species, crediting it to Willdenow, but we do not find it used elsewhere. 
