A Mammillaria lasiacantha és közeli rokonainak összehasonlítása kampós középtöviseik alapján

Members of the Lasiacanthae series are rather small plants with a moderate need for space. Among all taxa, Mammillaria magallanii is the smallest with a stem size of 4 cm in diameter. Taxa are flowering in the early spring. Small but numerous flowers appear at the end of February. Cultivated together, a series could be made of the members of the series based on the abundance of hairy spines. In the genus Mammillaria, taxa bearing curved central spines are rare in the Eastern part of the area whereas taxa with curved central spines are dominant in the Western part. Despite the genetic background of the spine formation is hardly known, this pattern indicates that genes regulate curved central spines distributer from West to East during the speciation of the genus Mammillaria. If the curved central spines increase the fitness of a plant specimen it may have more issues than other specimens which lead the dispersion of its genes. Collecting and cultivating the members of the series in a single glasshouse under controlled conditions, differences can be seen well. Special collections are good basis for this precise classification. There are many taxa which can be only identify in its juvenile stage as central spines that are good characters are only present until the plants start to flower first.