NEOMAMMILLARI A . 



155 



131. Neomammillaria microcarpa (Engelmann). 



Mammillaria microcarpa Engelmann in Emory, Mil. Reconn. 157. 1848. 

 Mammillaria grahamii Engelmann, Proc. Amer. Acad. 3: 262. 1856. 

 Cactus grahamii Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PI. i: 260. 1891. 



Mammillaria grahamii arizonica Quehl, Monatsschr, Kakteenk. 6: 44. 1896. 

 Coryphantha grahamii Rydherg, Fl. Rocky Mountains 581. 1917. 



Globose to cylindric, simple or budding either at base or near middle, often cespitose, but in 

 small clusters, sometimes 8 cm. high; tubercles small, corky when old; axils of tubercles naked; 

 radial spines 15 to 30, spreading, white, sometimes with dark tips, slender, rigid, glabrous, 6 to 12 

 mm. long; central spines i to 3, dark, when more than one the lower stouter, often 18 mm. long, 

 hooked; flowers from near top of plant, 2 to 2.5 cm. long, broadly funnel-shaped; outer perianth- 

 segments ovate, obtuse, short-ciliate ; inner perianth-segments purplish, sometimes with whitish 

 margins, obovate, acuminate; style longer than stamens, purplish; stigma-lobes 7 or 8, linear, 

 green; fruit clavate, 2 to 2.5 cm. long, scarlet; seeds black, shining, pitted, globose, 0.8 to i mm. 

 in diameter. 



Type locality: "On the Gila, 3,000 to 4,000 feet above the sea." 



Distribution: Southwestern Texas and Chihuahua to Arizona and Sonora; recorded 

 from southern California and southern Utah. 



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Figs. 173 and 174. — Neomammillaria microcarpa. 



Neomammillaria microcarpa has long been a favorite in living collections under the 

 name of Mammillaria grahamii, but it does not do well in cultivation and soon dies out. 



This plant is generally known under the name of Mammillaria grahamii. The specific 

 name must now give place to an older one, microcarpa. Mammillaria microcarpa was based 

 on a drawing made by J. M. Stanly, the artist on W. H. Emory's famous expedition across 

 the continent. This drawing was sent to Dr. George Engelmann by Colonel Emory, early 

 in 1848, with the following note: "November 4, 1846, abundant." From Emory's narra- 

 tive map of his journey published later, in 1848, we know that on that date his camp was 

 on the eastern side of the Gila and only one day's trip by pack train from the mouth of the 

 San Pedro. His camp was "in a grove of cacti of all kinds; among them being the huge 

 pitahaya [Carnegiea gigantea], one of which was 50 feet high." For years we have been 

 striving to have this plant re-collected from the type locality; in 1908 Dr. Rose made an 

 unsuccessful attempt to reach Emory's station. 



Finally, at Dr. Rose's request, Mrs. Ruth C. Ross, on June 11, 1922, visited the locality 

 at which Emory's party was camped on November 4, 1846, where he had said that the 

 little Mammillaria was abundant. The Mammillaria which Mrs. Ross found there, also 

 in some abundance, was the plant which has long passed as M. grahamii. Mrs. Ross 



