All the information and photos in cactus art files are now available also in the new the Enciclopedia of Cacti. We hope you find this new site informative and useful.

Mammillaria luethyi forma cristata

Cristation in this plant is unstable and defasciation occurs all the times.  
That is the linear meristem turns into a number of small apical meristems that form normal shoots.
 

The defasciation is a process leading to longitudinal cleavage of a linear crest, rather to the complete division of the stem into individual normal shoots. Crests may remain at any stage for a long time. But at the stage of brain-shaped crest when the curves begin to crowd defasciation occurs rather often. That is the linear meristem turns into a number of small apical meristems that form normal shoots. More seldom defasciation occurs without any reason at an earlier stage of the development of the crest.

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Family: Cactaceae (Cactus Family)

Scientific name:  Mammillaria luethyi,
Published by G.S. Hinton in Phytologia, January 1996.

forma cristata.

Origin:  Garden origin (Nursery produced cultivar)

Conservation status: Listed in CITES appendix 2.

A small crest grafted on  Opuntia compressa

Photo of conspecific taxa, varieties, forms and cultivars of Mammillaria luethyi:

• M. luethyi
• M. luethyi cristata

All the information and photos in cactus art files are now available also in the new the Enciclopedia of Cacti. We hope you find this new site informative and useful.