''Cochemiea thornberi'' is a species of
cactus
A cactus (: cacti, cactuses, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae (), a family of the order Caryophyllales comprising about 127 genera with some 1,750 known species. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, ...
known by the common names Thornber's fishhook cactus and Thornber's nipple cactus. It is native to
Arizona
Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...
in the United States and
Sonora
Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora (), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is divided into Municipalities of Sonora, 72 ...
in Mexico.
[''Mammillaria thornberi''.]
The Nature Conservancy.[''Mammillaria thornberi''.]
Flora of North America.
Description
This plant has numerous branches that all root in the ground, forming a clump of rooted stems all belonging to one plant. The stems are cylindrical and usually measure up to 10 centimeters tall, but known to reach 30. They are up to 3.5 centimeters wide. There are up to 21 bristle-like radial spines on each
areole
In botany, areoles are small light- to dark-colored bumps on cactus, cacti out of which grow clusters of Thorns, spines, and prickles, spines. Areoles are important diagnostic features of cactus, cacti, and identify them as a family distinct fr ...
and one to three hooked central spines. The flower is up to 3 centimeters wide and has white or pink inner
tepal
A tepal is one of the outer parts of a flower (collectively the perianth). The term is used when these parts cannot easily be classified as either sepals or petals. This may be because the parts of the perianth are undifferentiated (i.e. of very ...
s with pink midstripes.
[ The flowers bloom most often after heavy rainfall.][''Mammillaria thornberi''.]
Center for Plant Conservation. The fruit is bright red and up to 1.5 centimeters long.[ It is edible.][ It contains black seeds.]
Distribution
This plant is associated with nurse plants. It often grows beneath the branches of ''Ambrosia dumosa
''Ambrosia dumosa'', the burro-weed or white bursage, a North American species of plants in the family Asteraceae. It is a common constituent of the creosote-bush scrub community throughout the Mojave Desert of California, Nevada, and Utah and ...
''.[ The habitat is desert scrub. There are two main population areas in Arizona, one in the ]Avra Valley
The Avra Valley is a 50-mile (80 km) long northwest–southeast valley, bordering the west of Tucson, Arizona. The Tucson Mountains are at the valley's center-east, with suburbs ranging east of the Tucson Mountains and trending northwest ...
and Saguaro National Park
Saguaro National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States in southeastern Arizona. The park consists of two separate areas—the Tucson Mountain District (TMD), about west of Tucson, Arizona, T ...
and one on the Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation.[ This species was abundant in the Avra Valley up until the 1930s until a freeze which decimated the population.][ There are now a total of about 600 plants in all the populations together.]
Taxonomy
This species was first described as ''Mammillaria thornberi'' in 1902 by Charles Russell Orcutt.
References
External links
*
*
USDA Plants Profile
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1888367
thornberi
Cacti of Mexico
Cacti of the United States
Flora of the Sonoran Deserts
Flora of Arizona
Flora of Sonora
Least concern flora of North America
Least concern flora of the United States