Mammillaria huitzilopochtli Lau 1557, 1558 and 1586

[Dennis]

LAU1500
[attachment 16503 LAU1500.jpg]

[Chris43]

Great photos, Dennis. Your Lau1500 is far spinier than any of mine are, do you know its provenance? and how old it is? I know that huitzilopochtli is very variable wrt spines.

[Dennis]

Chris,

According to my database, it was purchased from Southfield nursery at the Southport show. Aug 1990.

I'm just wandering whether the field number(s) are correct.
(my 66 is your 1500, and my 1500 appears to be ssp. niduliformis)

The other two plants where purchased from ABCN one in 1984, the other in 1992.

[Chris43]

All I can say really, Dennis, is that I was somewhat concerned about another plant for which the documentation is a little mixed (Lau seed, with the number 1500, which at the time were assumed by the grower to mean 1500 metres. However, Tomellin Canyon is nowhere near 1500 metres, its more like 700 metres. So I shared the photos of this plant (see below) and my other two Lau 1500 forms, and was told by three specialists in Mammillarias (2 German and one Belgian) they they were all Lau 1500.
My photo earlier doesn't show any central spines, but my second plant from seed does have them and is closer to the one below.
I therefore have come to believe in the correct naming of these plants, but don't really know the true extent of their variability, other than knowing that the presence of central spines is one very variable characteristic.
My Lau 066 is a rather darker spined plant than yours. I'll try to get a photo done soon and post it for comparison.

[attachment 16505 huitzli-lau-1s.jpg]

[DaveW]

An old thread, but I found this relevant article recently:-

http://www.mammillaria.net/oldweb/MFN/MFN7w.pdf

[Chris43]

The Lacoste Field Notes were a series which ran in the early 1980's. ad probably responsible for developing my interest in Mamms to the level that it is today.

Thanks for reviving the thread, but interestingly, apart fro Lau 066 and Lau 1495, no-one has admitted to knowing what the other Lau numbers for this species are. Sadly I have lost my two Lau 1500 plants, the last one as a result of moving house. It got too dry in the dark, and even though a very light spray was given, it decided to give up.

They never set seed, but if anyone knows of seed, I'd love to know - and of course anyone who knows of the other Lau number taxons too.

A few other variants have emerged, especially this dark stout spined form. The taxonomy of M. crucigera, M. huizilopochtlii and M. dixanthocentron needs a lot of detail work, and some DNA analysis as well, in my view.

M. huitzilopchtlii v. imperialis TL185