Escobaria minima, known as "Nellies Cory Cactus" is a rare and beautiful dwarf species with heads that rarely exceed an inch around in the wild. In cultivation they can grow a little larger. The short white spines are thick and flattened against the body of the plant, effectively encaging it. It is extremely rare in the wild, found in only three places in Brewster County, Texas.
    This is my first Escobaria and hopefully I'll do allright with it. I picked this up at B&B Cactus Farm. Now late August it's forming flower buds and had signs it had flowered earlier. Though it's said to clump only rarely, mine has a nice little one at the base. Below is a closeup of the spines and the flowers that finally bloomed in early September.
    Update early June 2007. Well the plant made it through winter without a cratch and now it's starting to bloom again. This time 4 flowers at once on the main head and the little offset even joined in to make it 5. Marvelous!

A view of the interesting spines	First flowers in September	A view from the top	A closer view
Still open the next day	Another flower a few weeks later	4 at once in June 2007	Another view
And then there were 5	Another view