Wooly Nipple Cactus in Bloom and Fruit

Mammillaria nivosa, the wooly nipple cactus, is native to a number of Caribbean islands. I bought these two mature plants a couple of years ago and they’ve grown into large display specimens. Origin is Mesa Garden #811 seed.  They’ve come a long way since I harvested and germinated first seeds two years ago, and there are now around 200 nickel and quarter-sized cactus.  The fruit had no flavor and just a barely perceptible sweetness. They are a colorful companion species for the specialty Caribbean cactus garden, and more so when the smaller, cluster-forming Melocactus prolifera goes in with it. The YouTube short below is of one of these guys in fruit two years ago.

In the near future, I hope to acquire and grow to decent size some Melocactus intortus “Turk’s cap” cactus, which like its smaller, also-round counterpart – the wooly nipple cactus – is found throughout the Caribbean and thus to be well-represented in the backyard Caribbean and Florida Garden. In the greenhouses I have a Melocactus caroli-linnaei (Jamaica) and the nifty mountain dwarf Melocactus praerupticola (Dominican Republic) at recently-germinated size, but they will need to grow larger before withstanding full sun on display. There is a diverse representation of Consolea, Opuntia and Leptocereus already in this garden.