Mammillaria of the Month

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Mammillaria elongata

Mammillaria elongata is such a well known species, gracing many a cottage windowsill, but one that also has such a wide variation in spine colour that it keeps its place in an enthusiasts collection. What has not often been seen before, though, is a variation in flower colour. We all are familiar with th eyellow flowers of this species, and though the yellow tone varies a bit,  the plant shown is certainly a great step towards a new range of colours. This is no nurseryman's cross or selected strain, this plant was seen, and seeds happily collected, in  Bellavista del Rio, Qro. On a recent trip to Mexico, near El Cardonal, Qro, which is not so far from Bellavista, large plants of Mammillaria elongata were seen, with flowers that were certainly not the yellow  which we have grown used to, but then they were not either the darker pink of the plant shown above. The two photos below shows these plants. There is clearly quite a variety of colour in the flower as well as in the spines.