Mammillaria SB1659

[TomInTucson]

I recently asked Steven Brack this question: "Don't you think that Mammillaria SB1659 (aff. boolii) is actually M. insularis ? Or do you think that Mammillaria insularis should be called M. boolii ?".

He replied that he was getting prepared for his trip to South Africa, and would research the answer upon his return. In the meantime, does anyone have a solution?

[Chris43]

I've never grown SB1659, but I've donme some deskbound investigation. The first thing was to locate Puerto El Porteluezo, on which I failed. But dropping the Puerto lead me to a location more or less in the middle of the width of BCN, and about level with Puerto Lobos on the Sonoran mainland.

The images I found of SB1659 are very much of a plant that looks like boolii. M. insularis is, of course, an island relarive of N. boolii, though I have wondered whether one of these two shoud be a subspecies of the other! In San Calos Bay area I have seen many M> boolii plants, some with central spines as dark as those on M. insularis.

It'll be very interesting to hear what Steven Brack has to say when he's got time to investigate.

[TomInTucson]

I've never grown SB1659, but I've donme some deskbound investigation. The first thing was to locate Puerto El Porteluezo, on which I failed. But dropping the Puerto lead me to a location more or less in the middle of the width of BCN, and about level with Puerto Lobos on the Sonoran mainland.

The images I found of SB1659 are very much of a plant that looks like boolii. M. insularis is, of course, an island relarive of N. boolii, though I have wondered whether one of these two shoud be a subspecies of the other! In San Calos Bay area I have seen many M> boolii plants, some with central spines as dark as those on M. insularis.

It'll be very interesting to hear what Steven Brack has to say when he's got time to investigate.

It really doesn't matter too much to solving the question, but I had the same problem with the location of SB1659 as well. The town you referenced is actually incorrect. It took me a while to figure out what Steve's actual location was. It turns out that Puerto el Portezuelo is actually a ,mountain pass a few miles inland from the Sea of Cortez called Puerto Portezuelo (Portezuelo pass). It's a few miles west of a small settlement called El Barril (right on that sea)
.
While checking the locations of M. insularis on iNaturalist. I found several near both locations.

[Chris43]

Thanks for the update on location.