Mammillaria Strikes Again

I was looking at my last couple of posts and found that I had noted the last time it rained here. It was November 8, and I have already talked about how many of my plants have responded. One plant that I didn't mention before is my prized Mammillaria dioica. The last time I discussed the Mammy was in January when it was blooming like crazy. It's off to a great start again this season. Here's my best flower shot, taken with my new macro lens on my phone.

M dioica is known to be one of the earlier bloomers, so it's not surprising for it to be putting out flowers now. The plant currently has two open flowers, two that are just about to open, and 9 buds. I'm assuming this is all in response to the November 8 rain because, unlike last year, I haven't watered it. 

I was a little concerned about this cactus during the summer because it started leaning over. I have seen Mammies do this before, and I guess it's because of low water inside the stem. I typically do not water it during the summer, but maybe I should. Despite the lean, it has continued to look healthy, as seen the next two photos which I took today.

I have surrounded the plant with rocks because whenever I see it in the wild it is growing in rocks of some kind. I may have mentioned before that this species is found both on the coast and in the desert, and it is exactly the same species in both places. However, there are a couple of newly recognized subspecies, both from Baja. Subspecies angelensis is from Isla Angel de la Guarda, a large island in the Sea of Cortez. Subspecies estebanensis is from a smaller island, also in the Sea of Cortez. Therefore the local taxon is officially known as Mammillaria dioica ssp. dioica.

As this cactus grows it doesn't get progressively larger. Instead it adds new stems or "heads". Below is a photo of one with an incredible number of heads. This is still a single plant. I photographed this two months ago in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park .

Unfortunately, Mammillarias are sought by poachers who will dig them up and sell them to cactus collectors. One like this would be quite valuable. I try to obscure the precise location of the plants that I photograph so that poachers can't easily find them. Mammillarias are fairly readily available at nurseries, so it should never be necessary to collect one from the wild.