Arnold Zwicky's Blog

(The penises (and nipples) are all symbolic, but if that troubles you, the title should be a warning.)

Yes, the News for Penises is back in business, with a bulletin from our floral department, beginning with the truly stunning image of plants of what was described as the Mammillaria cactus species pilcayensis:

(#1) A collection of what are variously referred to as sock, finger, thumb, or penis cactuses — the last especially because of the color-marked analogue of the glans penis, complete with a purple analogue of the corona of the glans penis (alternatively, those could be finger tips, or toes)

(On the corona as bodypart, see my 3/6/20 posting “Tragedies of the pandemic”.)

(Hat tip to Chris Waigl on Facebook on 3/21)

From my 6/9/17 posting “Three cactuses”, a section on Mammillaria spinosissima:

(#2) mammillaria ‘with nipples’, spinosissima ‘very spiny, super-spiny’; otherwise, like any erect, elongated cactus, it’s a phallic symbol

Mammillaria from Latin mammilla ‘nipple’, referring to the rounded protuberances on the surface of cacti of this genus, from which the spines spring. There’s a huge number of species in the genus, many of them with a variety of subspecies and cultivars.

The specific name spinosissima is the (absolute) superlative of spinosa ‘spiny’. The ordinary superlative grade of spinosa means ‘spiniest’, while the absolute superlative means ‘most spiny, extremely spiny, really really spiny’; each tubercle sprouts a whole family of spines.

My summary in that 2017 posting: “Phallic and with nipples!”

Then, the particular variety in #1. From the LLIFL (Encyclopedia of Living Forms) Encyclopedia of Cacti on Mammillaria pilcayensis (technically, M. spinosissima ssp pilcayensis):

(#3) From this photo you can see the source of the effect in #1 that seems to outline the corona of the glans penis: that’s where the florets bloom — yielding a dick crown of flowers

Description: Mammillaria spinosissima ssp pilcayensis is distinguishing subspecies that has whiter, shorter and very dense spination, and the stems can grow up to 50 cm long. Central and radial spines are all similar, about 30-34, pale glassy yellow and 5-6 mm long. It might have some latex and bristles in the axils. The flowers are purple-pink…

Derivation of specific name: pilcayensis For the occurrence in the Barranca de Pilcaya, Guerrero, Mexico.

This entry was posted on March 24, 2020 at 2:32 pm and is filed under Language and plants, Phallicity. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.