MAMILLOPSIS. 



19 



4. MAMILLOPSIS * (Morren) Weber. 



Cespitose cacti, often forming large clusters, globular or short-cylindric, completely hidden 

 under a mass of long, soft, white, hair-like spines ; tubercles not arranged in ribs, more or less conic, 

 not grooved above, spine-bearing at apex, their axils pubescent and bristly; radial spines numerous, 

 weak, straight; central spines 4 to 6, with yellow, hooked tips; flowers from near top of plant but 

 apparently from axils of old areoles, with a regular, straight, slender, scaly tube and a broad, spread- 

 ing limb; perianth-segments oblong, obtuse; stamens and style erect, long-exserted beyond tube; 

 scales on flower-tube orbicular, obtuse. 



Schumann associated Mammillaria senilis Loddiges, the type of the genus, with 

 species now referred to Cocliemiea, treating them all as a subgenus of Mammillaria, but 

 Cochemiea has an irregular flower and otherwise is different from this genus. 



Morren first proposed the subgeneric name Mamillopsis, but Weber, we believe, was 

 justified in recognizing the genus. He states, very properly, that the flowers are very 

 unlike those of any of the species of Mammillaria. He also calls attention to the long- 

 exserted stamens, and long and scaly flower-tube, and also to the fact that the filaments 

 are borne in two series, one series being on the flower-tube. The ovary, too, seems to be 

 scaly, and doubtless other differences will be recorded when the species are better known. 

 Two species are here recognized, both from the high mountains of Mexico. 



The generic name, Mamillopsis, means Mammillaria-li'ke. 



Key to Species. 



Flowers 6 to 7 cm. long, orange-yellow i ■ M. senilis 



Flowers 3 cm. long, deep red 2. M. diguetii 



-Mamillopsis senilis. 



1. Mamillopsis senilis (Loddiges) Weber. 



Mammillaria senilis Loddiges in Salm-Dyck, Cact. Hort. Dyck. 1849. 82. 1850. 

 Cactus senilis Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PI. i: 261. i8gi. Not Haworth, 1824. 



Stems 6 to 15 cm. high, 3 to 6 cm. in diameter, the flesh juicy and drying red; tubercles 3 to 

 4 mm. long; spines 30 to 40, 2 cm. long; flowers 6 to 7 cm. long, 6 cm. broad, orange-yellow; perianth- 

 segments oblong, acute, with serrated margin; stigma-lobes 6, spreading; fruit not known. 



Type locality: Not cited. 



Distribution: High mountains of Chihuahua and Durango. 



* Mamillopsis has never been formally published as a genus, but it is mentioned by Weber as a synonym of 

 Mammillaria senilis (Diet. Hort. Bois 805. 1898). It was proposed as a subgenus by Morren in 1874 (Belg. Hort. 

 24:33). 



