greenflower nipple cactus
Cochemiea barbata (Engelm.) Doweld
This small cactus has a botanical history tied to Chihuahua. Friedrich Wislizenus collected it in 1846, and Joseph Rose returned to the type locality in 1908. Britton and Rose based their later descriptive account on that rediscovered material, giving a particularly direct link between the name and the living plant. Britton and Rose, The Cactaceae, volume4 (1923)
Botanical name
Kew accepts Cochemiea barbata (Engelm.) Doweld, with Mammillaria barbata Engelm. and Neomammillaria barbata as homotypic synonyms. Kew POWO: Cochemiea barbata
Recognizing the plant
Their account describes rounded stems about three to four centimetres across, often packed together in dense clumps. Twenty or more slender, white radial spines spread outward or rise slightly, sometimes ending in brown tips. Several stouter brown central spines project from the middle, with one or two hooked at the end. Flowers are about fifteen millimetres long. The inner floral segments are pale straw-coloured or greenish, brownish outside, surrounding short purplish filaments and five to seven greenish stigma lobes. Britton and Rose, The Cactaceae, volume4 (1923)
Native range
Current Kew treatment restricts its native range to the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Durango, in desert or dry-shrubland environments. The historic type locality is in western Chihuahua, consistent with that Mexican distribution. Kew POWO: Cochemiea barbataBritton and Rose, The Cactaceae, volume4 (1923)
Botanical sources
Reviewed 2026-10-11. Seasonal development varies with location and growing conditions.