Mammillaria parkinsonii (Owl’s eye pincushion)

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Mammillaria parkinsonii Ehrenberg 1840

Owl’s eye pincushion, owl’s eye

Kingdom	Plantae	Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae
Subkingdom	Tracheobionta	Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients
Division	Magnoliophyta	Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms
Class	Magnoliopsida	Dicotyledons—plants with two initial seed leaves
Subclass	Caryophyllidae	Cacti, many other succulents, carnivorous plants, and leadworts
Order	Caryophyllales	Includes cacti, carnations, amaranths, ice plants, and many carnivorous plants
Family	Cactaceae	Succulent (water-storing) plants, often spiny
Genus	Mammillaria	From Latin mammilla, “nipple,” referring to the tubercules on members of this genus
Species	parkinsonii

About plant names...

Owl's eye cactus is native to Querétaro, Mexico, and is not found in the wild elsewhere in North America.

Identification: Individual plants, globe-shaped or cylindrical in shape, later branch into multiple plants. Each stem is less than 6" (15 cm) high, and 4-6" (10-15 cm) around. The blue-green stems are fine, ⅛-³/₁₆" (4-6 mm) long, almost soft-looking, in groups of 30-40. Flowers are reddish before opening, then pale yellow and red. Reddish-orange fruits are less than ⅜" (1 cm) in length.

References:

Anderson, Edward F., The Cactus Family, Timber Press, 2001, p. 435

Online References:

Mammillarias.net, a web site devoted to this genus

Desert-tropicals.com

Dr. Giuseppe Mazza's PhotoMazza.com site

The Arizona Sonora Desert Museum Sonoran Desert Digital Library

CactiGuide.com

Mammillaria auriareolis 1933

Mammillaria rosensis R. T. Craig 1945

Mammillaria neocrucigera Backeberg 1961

Mammillaria parkinsonii description by Thomas H. Kent, last updated 25 May 2020.