Mammillaria laui | |
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In bloom | |
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Individuals tend to form clumps over time | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Order: | Caryophyllales |
Family: | Cactaceae |
Subfamily: | Cactoideae |
Genus: | Mammillaria |
Species: | M. laui |
Binomial name | |
Mammillaria laui | |
Synonyms [2] | |
List
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Mammillaria laui is a species of cactus in the genus Mammillaria , native to Tamaulipas state in Mexico. [2] A number of subspecies were described, occurring along an elevation gradient; these are no longer accepted. [2] It is listed as Critically Endangered (CR) in the wild. [1]
Mammillaria laui grows solitary in depressed, spherical or spurring shapes, reaching up to 6 centimeters in height and 4.5 centimeters in diameter. Its densely packed, bulbous-conical warts are dark green, non-lacerating, and may have sparse wool in the axils or be bare. The plant features 30 to 40 fine, bristle-like radial spines that are 4 to 8 millimeters long, glassy white, irregularly radiating, and protrude outward, covering the body. It also has 5 to 8 central spines, slightly thicker than the radial spines, measuring 6 to 7 millimeters long, protruding, and yellow with a bulbous, thickened base.
The flowers are broadly funnel-shaped, about the same diameter as the plant, and measure 1.6 to 2 centimeters in length. They are bright carmine pink. The whitish fruits are spherical to oblong, small (2 to 6 millimeters long), and contain black seeds. [3]
This species is found between Ciudad Victoria and Jaumave in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, where it inhabits mountainous regions between 800 and 1700 meters elevation. [4]
Mammillaria laui was first described in 1979 by David Richard Hunt. The name honors the German cactus researcher Alfred Bernhard Lau. [5]
As Mammillaria lauii it has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. [6]
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