I'm no expert but was reading up on this plant and from what I've gleaned, Mammillaria sphaerica is a subspecies of Mammillaria longimamm...Read Morea (vs a synonym as shown here on DG). (?) The photos I've seen show distinct differences; M. sphaerica seems to have much more bristly, webbed-like, semi-obscuring spines while the M. longimamma appear to have more prominent tubercles, less obscured by spines. The flowers look slightly different as well; M. sphaerica show some blushing on the outer tepals and darker orangish stamens, vs M. longimamma which are completely yellow. I see both represented in the photos here and was surprised/curious they were not distinguished separately as it seems easy to spot the differences. But then again as I said, I don't have personal experience, I'm just investigating currently. (I only post this because I find the images of what I take to be the distinct species, M. sphaerica, more attractive and am considering adding that one to my collection (vs M. longimamma)).
I'm no expert but was reading up on this plant and from what I've gleaned, Mammillaria sphaerica is a subspecies of Mammillaria longimamm...Read More
Heads flattened-globose to 5 cm across,clumping.Flowers 6 cm across.
Other name,
Dolichothele sphaerica
The fruit are reported to have a pleasant aroma.
The flowers are brilliant lemon yellow
Small knobby light green clumper from south Texas and n Mexico