Cochemiea blossfeldiana

Cochemiea blossfeldiana is a species of Cochemiea found in Mexico.

Description
Cochemiea blossfeldiana typically grows alone, though sometimes in clusters. It has spherical to briefly cylindrical gray-green bodies, reaching 5 cm in height and 3 to 4 cm in diameter. Its conical warts lack milky sap, and its axillae are thinly woolly. The plant bears 4 dark brown to black central spines, 1 to 1.2 cm long, with the lowest one hooking outward and the upper ones straight. Additionally, it features 15 to 20 marginal spines, yellow with dark tips, measuring 0.5 to 0.7 cm long.

Its funnel-shaped flowers, white with pink to crimson stripes, are 2 cm long and 2 to 4 cm in diameter. The club-shaped fruits are orange-red, containing black pitted seeds.

Distribution
These plants grow in decomposing granite and gravelly soil in Baja California and Guadalupe and Cedros Islands, Mexico, at elevations of 0 to 150 meters. They thrive in arid plains near the coast in the Lower Sonora Desert zone, specifically at Santa Rosalillita, and on steep coastal slopes at Punta Baja, Boca Marrón, and Punta María. Further south, they can be found near Mezquital.

Subspecies
There are two recognized subspecies:

Taxonomy
Friedrich Bödeker first described the plant as Mammillaria blossfeldiana in 1931, who named it in honor of German gardener Robert Blossfeld. Peter B. Breslin and Lucas C. Majure transferred the species to Cochemiea in 2021.