bio.wikisort.org - Plant

Mammillaria morganiana, common name owl's eyes or owl-eye pincushion, is a cactus in the genus Mammillaria of the family Cactaceae. The epithet morganiana honors the U.S. optometrist Meredith Walter Morgan (1887-1957) of Richmond.

Mammillaria morganiana
Mammiliaria morganiana at the botanical garden of Villa Durazzo-Pallavicini, Genova Pegli
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Order:	Caryophyllales
Family:	Cactaceae
Subfamily:	Cactoideae
Genus:	Mammillaria
Species:	M. morganiana
Binomial name
Mammillaria morganiana Tiegel

Description

Mammillaria morganiana is a spherical or slightly cylindrical cactus, reaching a diameter of about 8 inches. This plant is pale blue-green, densely covered by woolly whitish tubercles. The 4-5 central spines are straight, about 1 foot long, while the 40 to 50 radial spines are very thin or hairlike and reach about 1.2 inches. The funnel-shaped flowers are creamy white to pink, with central red venation, about 1.5 inches long and wide. The red-brown fruits contain the seeds.

Distribution

This species is native to the Mexican state of Guanajuato.

Habitat

It can be found in semi-desert warm area at an elevation of 1,400–1,700 metres (4,600–5,600 ft) above sea level.

References

• Ulises Guzmán; Salvador Arias; Patricia Dávila (2003), Catálogo de cactáceas mexicanas, Mexiko-Stadt: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, p. 147, ISBN 970-9000-20-9
• Urs Eggli, Leonard E. Newton: Etymological Dictionary of Succulent Plant Names. Springer, Berlin/Heidelberg 2010, ISBN 978-3-642-05597-3, S. 158.
• Mammillarias.net

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