Name and range
Plants of the World Online accepts Mammillaria carnea Zucc. ex Pfeiff. The name was published in 1837. Its natural range covers southern Mexico, from Veracruz to Oaxaca. The record associates the species with the seasonally dry tropical forest biome. The synonym list includes Cactus carneus and Neomammillaria carnea. [2-WWW]
Seeds from three microhabitats
In 2018, Matus and colleagues collected seeds near Zapotitlán de las Salinas in Puebla, at about 1500 m. They compared plants growing beneath Neltuma laevigata canopies, beneath Parkinsonia praecox canopies and in open places without canopy shelter within a 5 m radius. In each group, they took one ripe fruit from ten plants. These thirty batches formed seed families defined by a shared mother plant. [Matus et al. 2024, pp. 2–3, Materials and methods]
In an auxiliary test on moist filter paper, at 25°C by day and 20°C at night, 69 of 90 seeds from open places germinated, 62 of 90 from beneath Neltuma, and 60 of 90 from beneath Parkinsonia. Differences were not statistically significant. Viability was assessed indirectly through germination capacity under these conditions. [Matus et al. 2024, p. 3, Seed viability test]
Response to light quantity and spectrum
In the main experiment, 3600 seeds were sown in 360 dishes of ten. Each family was tested in six replicates under each of two lighting treatments. Temperature was kept at 28°C during the twelve-hour day and 25°C at night for 45 days. White LEDs provided 146.07 ± 11.7 µmol photons/m²/s. Adding filters produced far-red-enriched light at 4.04 ± 0.4 µmol photons/m²/s. Both light quantity and spectral composition changed simultaneously. [Matus et al. 2024, pp. 3–4, Table 1]
In white light, a mean of 66.5 ± 2.1% of seeds germinated, and under filters 43.9 ± 2.3%. The reported uncertainties are standard errors, and each treatment included 180 dishes. Seeds from open places reached 71.1 and 64.3%, respectively, those sheltered by Neltuma 76.0 and 39.6%, and those sheltered by Parkinsonia 52.3 and 27.8%. For seeds from open places, the comparison test showed no significant difference between lighting treatments. Both groups originating beneath canopies responded with a stronger decline in germination in the filtered treatment. [Matus et al. 2024, p. 4, Fig. 1]
Variation among families
Seed family nested within provenance group accounted for 43.98% of the total sum of squares in the analysis of variance. Lighting alone accounted for 12.87%, and provenance group for 12.01%. This was a partition of variation in observed germination in this experiment. Differences among families could arise from inherited variation, the mother's environment and the composition of her offspring. The family division used combined these influences. [Matus et al. 2024, p. 4–6, tab. 2, ryc. 2]
The results support retaining seed-batch provenance information when comparing sowings. Families from this population responded differently even under shared substrate, temperature and light conditions. Both treatments were illuminated and differed simultaneously in spectrum and intensity. Observations covered germination in dishes over 45 days. [Matus et al. 2024, pp. 3–6, Methods, Results and discussion]
Related articles
Materials from the author's archive
The species also appears in Konrad Szychowski's private material archive. [Hernández-Oria et al. 2003, file p. 8, 12]
Synonyms and names in the literature
Cactus carneus · Neomammillaria carnea · Cactus aeruginosus · Cactus pallescens · Cactus subtetragonus · Cactus villifer · Mammillaria aeruginosa · Mammillaria carnea var. aeruginosa · Mammillaria carnea var. cirrosa · Mammillaria carnea var. robustispina · Mammillaria carnea var. subtetragona · Mammillaria carnea var. villifera · Mammillaria pallescens · Mammillaria subtetragona · Mammillaria villifera · Mammillaria villifera var. aeruginosa · Mammillaria villifera var. carnea · Mammillaria villifera var. cirrosa · Neomammillaria villifera [2-WWW]