Alfred Lau described 8 forms of M. huitzilopochtli to which he gave his field numbers 066, 066a, 066b, 1495 (the brown curly spined form known as ssp. niduliformis), 1500 (a white spined form), 1557, 1558 and 1586.
I am looking for information about the last three forms. Specifically if they are in cultivation here in the UK? And fairly obviously if anyone knows of seed for sale or better still, plants. But primarily it is information at this stage.
Does anyone grow these? or know someone who might....even a friend of a friend of a....
Two years ago Pijaya posted a photo of a Mammillaria huitzilopotchli with big central spines here:
I said at the time I had two without central spines but looking again they do have a central spine, but it is tiny in comparison. I got mine from Stuart at 'Plantlife' but without any collection number. There doesn't seem to be much on the net about this plant, and I had no idea there were 8 different ones. I'd certainly like one with the large centrals. Should there be a double 'i' at the end of the species name by the way? And can anyone post photos of any of the different forms?
Somerset Phil
Member of Somerset branch. I have a diverse mixture of small cacti plus a few larger survivors from a previous collection. I also like Stapeliads, Titanopsis, Anacampseros, and various other succulents. Now proud owner of many self-raised seedlings.
I have the following plants purchased from ABCN/Southfield in the early 80s/90s
Lau 66, Lau 1495 and 1500. The two ssp. niduliformais flower every year and I have transferred pollen from one to the other, but they have never set seed. I have some photos of all three which I will dig out and post.
Dennis
growing Mexican and S. Amererican miniatures, many from seed. All in sunny Merseyside.
This is a picture of my Mam huitzilopochtlii lau 1495 that I purchased from the Havering Cactus Mart in 2002 which I think is a lovely form. I also have a huitzilopochtlii that I grew from Doug Rowland seed in 1988 but this has no field number.
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Sylvia in Somerset
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Sylvia in Somerset growing cacti and succulents since 1977
THis is the Lau 1500 form. It has a small central spine but it is quite variable and can grow longer or be mostly absent. I've 4 plants of this form, the one shown and another I grew from Mesa Garden seed, and the other two from a kind person in Malta, and they all show some variability.
And yes, no double "i", which I've removed now.
I have two ssp. niduliformis from Graham Charles. They are different spine colours and strangely so far have each flowered at different times of the year.
DaveW
Nottingham Branch BCSS. Joined the then NCSS in 1961, Membership number 11944. Cactus only collection.
It certainly is a variable species, Dave, one common factor being that they all come from the Tomellin Canyon, and according to Dr Lau "every turn of the valley produce distinct forms".It seems odd that some Mammillaria species (to our knowledge, based on plants grown or viewed) are very stable in form and others are intrinsically highly variable. M. huitzilopochtli is one of the latter, so I would expect to see som edifferences even in seed from the same seed packet. My two Lau 1500 from seed are visibly different, although obviously share a lot of common features.
