I bought a small cactus the other day that was labelled Mam. comptrica (bird's nest cactus). I've never heard of comptrica and can find only one obscure Western Australian reference to it. The bird's nest cactus I know is camptotricha (known today as Mammillaria decipiens ssp. camptotricha). It doesn't look anything like it. No flowers yet (I'm predicting white/cream) but its spines are dense, soft, and white with no real central spine and it clumps from a young age. Any ideas what might be going under this name? Is it even a valid name (not listed on Desert Tropicals anywhere)? I'll take a pic on the weekend.

I reckon it's probably camptotricha, but a photo may help confirm that. I have a plant that matches the description that I'm also seeking to ID.

Yeah... photo will help, however, it doesn't look anything like camptotricha though. Spines look more like glassii ( see: http://www.tucsoncactus.org/cgi-bin/MySQLdb/GraphView.php?keyId=284 ) without a darker central spine or hook.

Actually... the body looks identcal to this: http://cgi.ebay.com.au/MAMMILLARIA-BOCASANA-Cactus-Plant-/260352111351?cmd=ViewItem&pt=AU_Plants_Seeds_Bulbs&hash=item3c9e31f2f7 . Again, not something I've heard of. I wasn't aware that the Mams had hybrids available.

Hope this helps my mammillaria camtotricha. Sorry not the best photo just took it and its dark here.

Yeah... the one I have doesn't look like this. The offsets look exactly like this:

Here's a photo. Taken today.



Thinking Mam. glassii ssp glassii

Here's a macro of the spines:

Ok... it's flowering It isn't glassii. I'm thinking maybe laui var. dasyacantha. This photo (from above) is from an Ebay site and it was labelled a pink bocasana... so maybe a bocasana hybrid.



This is mine today:



Neither the one in the Ebay photo or mine have hooks like bocasana. The spines seem too dense for laui var. dasyacantha (though it is in Tas... maybe it's just a woolly coat ).

Clumping fairly quickly. Has outgrown the small pot it's in already in the 6 months I've had it.