Species library › Mammillaria › Mammillaria melanocentra
Succulents Well documented

Mammillaria melanocentra

A solitary globular Mammillaria from the Chihuahuan Desert foothills of northeastern Mexico, centred on the Monterrey–Saltillo area. Give it strong sun, hot summers with some rain, and a cool, dry winter rest to keep it compact and flowering.

Mammillaria melanocentra
Photo: Peter A. Mansfeld, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
At home, aim for
Day Cool-growingTargets in Plantistry
Night Close to the dayTargets in Plantistry
Humidity Dry airBand in Plantistry
Light Full sunDLI and PPFD in Plantistry
Expects a seasonal restGrows in the ground

Where it grows wild

Rocky, mostly limestone slopes in desert scrub and dry matorral of the Sierra Madre Oriental foothills, growing in the open or in the light shade of shrubs. Habitat detail is generalised from the genus and the record locations.

Recorded at 620–2193 m, median 1437 m (17 records).

Nuevo LeónCoahuilaTamaulipasDurango

🔒 Growing it like that

The wild conditions above, turned into targets for a shelf, a tent or a greenhouse. The full profile has:

✓ Day and night temperature targets, and the limits it tolerates
✓ Humidity band, and how to hold it
✓ Light as DLI and PPFD for a grow light
✓ Wet and dry seasons, and whether to rest it
✓ Substrate and airflow
✓ A step-by-step setup to grow it like the wild

Grow Mammillaria melanocentra? Add it to a free garden and its full profile opens. Pro opens all 38,374 profiles in the library, plants and fungi.

Profiles are drafts built from measured range and climate and from published sources; each section carries its own confidence in the app. Photo from Wikimedia Commons, used under its CC BY 3.0 licence, unmodified.