Cactus mammillaris

Cactus mammillaris L. (1753)

🌵 Author(s)

Carl Linnaeus

Etymology

Latin mammilla, mamilla ‘nipple’. For the nipple-like tubercles (and possibly the milky sap). Pre-Linnaean names include EchinoMelocactus minor lactescens, tuberculis s. mammillis majoribus (“small milky hedgehog melon-thistle with bigger tubercles or nipples”).