Mammillaria crinita fa

[ajm389]

Might sound like a daft question
I have 2 specimens of M.crinita and M.crinita fa but what does the fa stand for.

Thanks

ajm389 (A J Morris)

[Sylv]

Hi,I think this means forma,meaning it's a different form of.I could be totaly wrong though.See what the people in the know say

Sylv.

[D^L]

Not sure that I'm "in the know" but, yes "fa", or more commonly just "f", normally refers to a form of the species, so we might expect it to look a little different. In practice, if the differences are noted as forms then they are usually very subtle so it probably doesn't mean much,

Do your plants look different, if so enjoy it. If not, I don't think the "fa" is very useful to you.

David Lambie

[Chris43]

Yes, fa. is for forma, often written as f. or fma. as well.

M. crinita is one of those Mammillaria species that is highly variable, and as a result has spawned a myriad of other species names, most of which have been reduced by conservative botanists into the single species M. crinite without any thought of using subspecies. So rather than try to associate a particular form with one of the subsumed names, the attribute of forma is used. Spine numbers vary, as do their colours. Flower colours vary, from creamy white through yellow to red/purple. One constant is that one or more spines are hooked, and most specifically the species is said to lack a specific genetic marker known as the rpl16 intron (don't ask me what it is!!). Of course one wouldn't know to look at a plant, but apparently this lack defines this variable species.

[ajm389]

Thanks all.

BTW Chris
How is it possible to ask questions on the Mammsoc Forum as I cannot see any indication anywhere to be able to do so.

Cheers

Anthony (ajm389)

I am Anthony 1 on the Mammsoc Forum

[Chris43]

Like any forum, just scroll down to the right sub-forum - in this case General Questions, or maybe Identification, and click on the link and when the new page loads, start a new topic.

[ajm389]

Thanks Chris

Cheers for now

Anthony