[Arias S., Gama-López S., Guzmán-Cruz L. U., Vázquez-Benítez B., Cactaceae, Flora del Valle de Tehuacán-Cuicatlán, fascículo 95, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Instituto de Biología, 2012, s. 1–235, wyd. 2]
The regional cactus flora of the Tehuacán-Cuicatlán valley contains keys, morphological descriptions, nomenclatural types, herbarium specimens, habitats and phenology. The treatment of Mammillaria sphacelata, now Oehmea sphacelata, presents stem and spine variation, flower, fruit and seed structure, and diagnoses of subspecies sphacelata and viperina. It gives limestone habitats in oak forests, seasonally leafless tropical forests and dry scrub.