Arizona fishhook cactus (from RimJournal: art and adobe brick, Mexico, the American Southwest, poetry, fiction and food)

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[Small cactus with a candy-striped, pink and white flower): 12k]

Arizona fishhook cactus

(Mammillaria microcarpa)

Common names: pincushion (but this should be used for cactus in this genus with straight spines, rather than hooked).
Cactus Family.
Blooms June-July in southern Arizona into New Mexico and west Texas. Can tolerate more moisture than the similar Many-Spined Fishhook which occurs in western Arizona and southern California.
Up to 6 inches (15 cm) high. Central spines are hooked. Fruits are bright red, smooth and fleshy.

[Ring of pink flowers edged with white: 17k]

Likes to grow under the shade of trees, shrubs or large cholla cactus. Two varieties occur in the deserts and one ranges up into the lower mountains.

The nipple-like tubercles that cover the stem give the genus its name from the Latin word mammila for nipple. The flowers are produced at the base of last year's tubercles, in a circle around the stem.

Browse color tocs: white to cream | yellow to yellow-orange | pink to red-orange | blue to purple | green, etc.

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