An anagram of Lima, capital of Peru.
Body forming clusters, shortly cylindrical, to about 15 cm tall and 4 cm wide, ribbed. Rootstock thickened. Ribs 10-13, low. Spines numerous, variable in thickness, colour and rigidity; central spines to 3 cm long, radials to about 40 up to 2 cm long. Flowers diurnal, funnel- to bell-shaped near the body apex, cream to yellow. Pericarpel and flower tube short with small scales, sparsely hairy or bristly in the axils. Fruit spherical, fleshy and with scales and woolly hair, reddish.
Once considered a genus of several species, now regarded as a single variable species, M. caespitosa Britton & Rose.
Closely related to Echinopsis.
Stems mostly branched and densely bristly; flower tube narrow.
1 species from C Peru.
Donald (1978).
Source: (1997). Cactaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 2. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 1. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.
