Mammillaria pectinifera F.A.C.Weber.. CITES: P-IT-1004
🌵 Morphology
Small Mammillaria with a globose and flattened body, about 3–4 cm in diameter, which remains almost hidden among stones in the wild. The tubercles are completely covered by numerous white radial spines, fine and adpressed, arranged like a comb, and without central spines. Over time, it can form small clusters.

🌍 Distribution, habitat and family
Family Cactaceae, subfamily Cactoideae, tribe Cacteae. Endemic to the Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Valley, mainly in Puebla and also in Oaxaca, Mexico. It lives on calcareous slopes and stony alkaline soils, often with the plant semi-buried and perfectly camouflaged among the gravel.

❄️ Temperature
USDA 9a. It tolerates minimum temperatures close to −6.7 ºC only under conditions of absolute dryness; cold combined with winter humidity is much more dangerous than low temperature alone.

☀️ Lighting
It needs plenty of light to maintain its compact habit and properly develop its characteristic pectinate spination. Direct sun is recommended, with progressive acclimatization, and high lighting equivalent to an approximate DLI PAR of 18–30 mol/m²/day.

💧 Growth cycle and watering
Winter rest. During active growth, it is recommended to water thoroughly and allow the substrate to dry out completely before the next watering. In winter, it must be kept dry and cool. Its taproot appreciates a pot with sufficient depth and excellent drainage.

🌸 Flowering
The flowers appear forming a crown around the apex, in shades of white to pink with a darker central band. They are diurnal and short-lived. In the wild, reproductive maturity is generally reached after 8 years; in controlled cultivation, much earlier flowering has been observed, around 2 years from germination.

🌿 Nutrition
During the active growth period, a fertilizer with a high content of assimilable calcium and low nitrogen levels is recommended, such as Desert CHOICE® Cactaceae, applied once a month when watering. Before flowering, it can be supplemented with Desert CHOICE® Flowering.

This is an inimitable xerophyte grown in Madrid in a technological square pot and with the substrate activated with mycorrhizal fungi and biofungicides.

Black gourmet 8x8 cm pot