Mammillaria luethyi

This fascinating cactus has an interesting history behind it.

The story goes back to April 1952 when Dr. Norman Hill Boke, (1913-1996) a Scholar and Author on anatomical features in the Cactaceae, was on his way from Mexico to the USA. He happened to stop at the Crosby Hotel in Ciudad Acuna, a town at the border on the Mexican side in the state of Coahuila.

He was surprised to find a miniature cactus growing in a 1lb Coffee can. Inquiring about the cactus he learned that some plants were given to the lady operator of the hotel by a mining prospector in Coahuila. It is unfortunate that we do not know who this sharp-eyed mining prospector was. Boke took some pictures of the plants and sent them to Ladislaus Cutak at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis, USA.

Intrigued by the pictures, Cutak corresponded with the lady operator of the Crosby Hotel. He managed to acquire two specimens of this mysterious cactus, but they were not in good condition. Both plants eventually died. The plant remained a mystery. That is until May 1996.

Meanwhile Cutak published a description of the plant and described it as one of the tiniest and daintiest cacti in existence. He could not place it in any known Genus.

In 1959, Backberg was the first to publish the pictures and to surmise that it could not be placed in the Genus Turbinicarpus because the flowers emerged from the side of the stem and not from the top. He provisionally listed the plant under Neogomesia.

Buxboum and Kladiwa in 1969 described a new Genus Normanbokea. Buxboum was of the idea that the mysterious plant belonged to this Genus.

Other Authors contributed their views.

In May 1996, two known Cactophyles Jonas M. Luthy and George S. Hinton, studied the maps of Coahuila, deduced possible locations where it could be and rediscovered the cactus. The plant was named Mammillaria luethyi for one of the discoverers. The plants grow on horizontal limestone slabs.

In cultivation the plants are usually grafted to speed up their growth but plants can also be grown on their own roots.

The top three pictures were photographed under a light microscope where several pictures were taken and combined by a computer process known as photo stacking to increase the depth of field. The pictures show the individual minute spines which branches to much smaller spines in the form of a parasol which is unique in the Cactaceae. It is arguable the prettiest Mammillaria.

All photos taken by Amante Darmanin