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Some species of Mamillaria and Echinocactus develop young plants from the tops of their tubercles; and this also points to the probability that the latter are branches. In Leuchtenbergia, the tubercles fall away as the plant increases in height, leaving a bare, woody stem similar to that of a Yucca. Cultivation. The Leuchtenbergia has always been difficult to keep in health.
The anthers, which also are yellow, form a column in the centre, through which the nine-rayed stigma protrudes. Strong plants sometimes produce two flowers together. IKE Leuchtenbergia, this genus is monotypic, and it is also rare, difficult to cultivate, and exceptionally interesting in structure.
LEUCHTENBERGIA. Stem naked at the base; tubercles on the upper part large, fleshy, elongated, three-angled, bearing at the apex a tuft of long, thin, gristle-like spines. ECHINOCACTUS. Stem short, ridged, spiny; calyx tube of the flower large, bell-shaped; ovary and fruit scaly. DISCOCACTUS. Stem short; calyx tube thin, the throat filled by the stamens; ovary and fruit smooth.
Remove the flower from Leuchtenbergia, and very few people indeed would think of calling it a Cactus, but would probably consider it a short-leaved Yucca. In habit, in form, in leaf, and in texture, it more resembles a Yucca or an Agave than anything else, and when first introduced it was considered such by the Kew authorities until it flowered.
The nearest approach to this plant is Mamillaria longimamma, in which the tubercles are 1 in. or more long, finger-shaped, and crowned with a few hair-like spines. But the Leuchtenbergia bears its flowers on the ends of the tubercles, and not from the axils, as in all others. This peculiarity leads one to infer that tubercles are modified branches, the spines representing the leaves.
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