[Illustration: Mammillaria microcarpa]
Common names: PINCUSHION CACTUS, FISHHOOK CACTUS, CORKSEED CACTUS,
NIPPLE CACTUS, BUTTON CACTUS
Arizona desert: (_Mammillaria microcarpa_). Lavender. June-July.
California desert: (_Mammillaria tetrancistra_). Lavender. June-July.
Texas-New Mexico deserts: (_Mammillaria micromeris_). Lavender. Early
summer.
Cactus family. Size: Cucumber-shaped and 3 to 10 inches high.
Unlike blossoms of many of the Cacti, flowers of the little
_Mammallarias_ often last for several days. Blossoms are pink or
lavender, occasionally yellow, while the fruits are finger- or
club-shaped and red. Being small and forming low clumps, or with single
pincushion-like stems, they often escape attention except when glorified
with bright, comparatively large flowers, which often form a crown
around the top of the plant. The long spines are curved at the tips
giving the plant the appearance of being covered with unbarbed
fishhooks.
The Pincushion cacti, of which there are a number of species throughout
the Southwest, occur in dry, sandy hills from southern Utah to western
Texas and in southern California and northern Mexico. The red fruits are
bare, without scales, spines, or hairs.