THE BABY CACTUS 55 



soils with watering once or twice a month during the dry pe- 

 riods. 



Brown Pincushion (Mammillaria WUcoxU) 



(Named in honor of General Timothy A. Wilcox of the 



United States Army, who collected many plants in Arizona 



and other western states) 



How to identify and how it grows 



The Brown Pincushion Cactus grows with flabby stems, 

 two or three Inches tall with as great a diameter. It is hemi- 

 spherical or subglobose, and somewhat depressed at the top. 

 The tubercles are loosely set and spirally placed, narrow and 

 conical. There are eighteen to twenty sharp, slender, needle- 

 like, wide-spreading radial spines which Interlock with those 

 of the other spine clusters; they are white with the tips a 

 bright reddish brown. There are two to six slender but much 

 stronger central spines which are spreading and erect with 

 the hooked ends turned in several directions. These are a 

 translucent red-brown throughout, which gives to the plant a 

 reddish brown halo over the mass of the white radlals. The 

 light pink flowers are a little more than an Inch long, and 

 when full open are wider than they are long. There are from 

 thirty-five to forty petals, narrow lance-shaped and somewhat 

 recurved. The fifteen or twenty white sepals form in 

 fringes. 



How to grow 



These plants will grow outside In temperatures nearly as 

 low as zero. With colder winter weather they should be 

 covered or grown In greenhouses or conservatories. Plants 

 grow easily from seed In fine sandy soil In pots or flats, with 

 part shade and with occasional watering to keep the soil 



