WikiBotanicals:Echinocereus

Echinocereus (from echinos, a hedgehog, and cereus, candle) is a genus of ribbed, usually small to medium-sized cylindrical cacti, comprising about 70 species, while more than 190 species and varieties have been proposed. Native to the southern United States and Mexico in very sunny rocky places. Usually the flowers are large and the fruit edible.

Background
Plants always low, perennial, erect or prostrate, sometimes pendent over rocks and cliffs, single or cespitose, globular to cylindric, prostrate or pendent if elongated; spines of ﬂowering and sterile areoles similar; ﬂowers usually large, but in some species small, diurnal, but in some species not closing at night; perianth campanulate to short-funnelform, scarlet, crimson, purple or rarely yellow, the tube and ovary always spiny; stigma-lobes always green; fruit more or less colored, thin-skinned, often edible, spiny, the spines easily detached when mature; seeds black, tuberculate. The type species is Echinocereus viridflorus.

The genus is conﬁned to the western United States and Mexico. It extends as far east as central Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas, north to Wyoming and Utah, west to the deserts of southern California, the Paciﬁc coast, and islands of lower California, and south to the City of Mexico.

Echinocereus has often been combined with Cereus. Engelmann, as well as Berger, treated it as a subgenus of Cereus, but  Schumann gave it generic rank. As we understand the genus, it is not close to Cereus proper, but is much nearer to some of the other genera. In habit it simulates the South American genus, Echinopsis, while in ﬂowers and fruits it comes near Erdisia, Bergerocactus, and Wilcoxia. While all the species are low in habit there is great variation in the manner and form of growth. Some are solitary; others grow in ﬂat masses, and others in large rounded mounds. The ﬂowers, while always having a spiny ovary and ﬂower-tube and green stigma-lobes, have considerable variation in the shape and color of perianth-segments and in duration. The ﬂower-buds as well as the young shoots are deep-seated in their origin and do not appear just at the areoles as in most cacti and hence must break through the epidermis when they develop. A somewhat similar result is produced in the ﬂowering of some of the species of Rhipsalis. Echinocereus has been selected as the state ﬂower of New Mexico. Most plants of Echinocereus do not ﬂower frequently in greenhouse cultivation.

Species
E. abbeae (pinkflower hedgehog cactus).

E. acifer Cespitose, glossy green, erect; ribs 10, strongly tubercled; radial spines 5 to 10, 10 to 16 mm. long pale brownish, bulbose and purplish at base; centrals 4 (Schumann says 1), stout, purplish brown. Distributed in Durango and Coahuila, according to Professor Schumann. Varities:
 * E. a. tubiflorus

E. adustus Cosihuiriachi, Chihuahua. Simple, short-cylindric, often only 4 to 6 cm. high; ribs 13 to 15; areoles closely set, elliptic; radial spines 16 to 20, appressed-pectinate, pale; the central spines wanting or solitary, sometimes elongated and porrect. Distributed in the Mountains near type locality.

E. albatus A small upright cactus that forms compact mounds

E. albiflorus

E. albispinus

E. amoenus Mexico. Plants low, almost buried in the ground; ribs usually 13, low, somewhat tuberculate; young areoles bearing 6 to 8 rather stout, short, spreading spines; old areoles spineless; flowers about 5 cm. broad magenta-colored. Distributed in San Luis Potosi, Mexico.

E. angusticeps

E. apachensis New Mexico (Apache hedgehog cactus)

E. arizonicus
 * E. a. nigrihorridispinus

E. baileyi Wichita Mountains, Oklahoma. Plant body cylindric, about 10 cm. high; ribs 15, straight or sometimes spiral; areoles elongated separated from the adjacent ones by a space of about their own length; radial spines at first white, where mature brownish or yellowish, about 16, somewhat spreading, those at the top and base of the areole smaller. Distributed in the Mountains of Oklahoma.

E. barthelowanus Plants cespitose, forming large clusters; stems cylindric, 1 to 2 dm. long, 4 to 5 cm. in diameter; ribs about 10, somewhat tuberculate below, bat completely hidden by the stout numerous spines; areoles approximate, 2 to 5 mm. apart, white-felted when young.

E. berlandieri Texas. (Berlandier's hedgehog cactus)

E. blanckii Near Camargo, state of Tamaulipas, Mexico. Procumbent; joints slender, 3 to 15 cm. long, 2 to 2.5 cm. in diameter; ribs 5 to 7, strongly tuberculed or when turgid scarcely tubercled; areoles 1 to 1.5 cm. apart; radial spines 6 to 8, 8 to 10 mm. long. Distributed in Northeastern Mexico and southern Texas.

E. bonatzii

E. bonkerae (pinkflower hedgehog cactus)

E. boyce-thompsonii Texas (Boyce Thompson hedgehog cactus)

E. brandegeei Always growing in clumps; joints sometimes one meter long or more, 5 cm. in diameter, but usually much narrowed toward the base; ribs strongly tubercled; areoles circular; spines at first light yellow tinged with red.

E. carmenensis

E. chisoensis Texas (Chisos Mountain hedgehog cactus). A rare species of cactus.
 * E. c. chisoensis Brewster County, Texas. It is a federally listed threatened species of the United States.
 * E. c. fobeanus Coahuila and Durango, Mexico.

E. chloranthus About El Paso, Texas. Cylindric, usually simple, 8 to 15 cm. long, 5 to 7 cm. in diameter; ribs about 13, often nearly den by the densely set spines; areoles nearly circular; radial spines several, spreading; centrals 3 or 4; not angled. Distributed in Western Texas, southeastern New Mexico, and northern Mexico.

E. chlorophthalmus Real del Monte, Mexico. Cespitose, nearly globose, glaucous-green; ribs 10 to 12, somewhat tuberculate; areoles circular; radial spines 7 to 10, slender, needle-like, 12 to 18 mm. long, spreading.

E. cinerascens Mexico. Growing in patches 6 to 12 dm. broad, branching at base, the stems ascending to about 3 dm.; ribs about 12, not very prominent, obtuse; areoles rather scattered, orbicular; spines white or pale, straight, rough, 1.5 to 2 cm. long. Distributed in Central Mexico. Varities:
 * E. c. septentrionalis

E. coccineus About Santa Fe, New Mexico. Usually densely cespitose, often forming large mounds a meter in diameter, containing sometimes 3 simple stems, these 2 dm. high or less, 3 to 5 cm. in diameter; ribs 8 to 11, somewhat tubercled. Distributed in New Mexico and Arizona to Utah and Colorado. Varieties:
 * E. c. arizonicus Arizona (Arizona hedgehog cactus)
 * E. c. coccineus (scarlet hedgehog cactus)
 * E. c. gurneyi (Gurney's hedgehog cactus)
 * E. c. paucispinus (scarlet hedgehog cactus)
 * E. c. rosei

E. conglomerates Rinconada, near Monterey, Mexico. Cespitose, forming large clumps; joints simple, often half covered in the ground, 1 to 2 dm. long; ribs 11 to 13, slightly undulate.

E. conoideus On the Upper Pecos, New Mexico. Plants cespitose; joints somewhat conic at apex; ribs 9 to 11; radial spines 10 to 12, slender, rigid; central spines 2.5 to 8 cm. long, generally 5 cm. long; flowers 6 cm. long. Distributed in Southeastern New Mexico and western Texas.

E. ctenoides Eagle Pass, Texas. So far as known simple, cylindric, elongated, 10 to 40 cm. long, 8 to 10 cm. in diameter, decidedly banded with pink and gray as in the rainbow cactus; ribs 15 to 17, low; areoles crowded together, short-elliptic. Distributed in Southern Texas and Chihuahua.

E. cucumis

E. dasyacanthus El Paso, Texas. Plants usually simple, cylindric, 1 to 3 dm. high, very spiny; ribs 15 to 21, low, 2 to 3 cm. high; areoles approximate, 3 to 5 mm. apart, short-elliptic; radial spines 16 to 24, more or less spreading, central spines 3 to 8, a little stouter than the radials. Distributed in Western Texas, southern New Mexico, and northern Chihuahua. It has been ported from Arizona, but doubtless wrongly.

E. davisii

E. delaetii Low, 1 to 2 dm. high, densely cespitose, completely hidden by the long, white, curled hairs; ribs indistinct; areoles closely set, bearing 15 or more white reflexed hairs 8 to 10 cm. long and a few stiff reddish bristles; flowers appearing near top of plant. Distribution is known only from Sierra de la Paila, north of Parras, Mexico.

E. dubius Somewhat cespitose; stems 12 to 20 cm. long, pale green, of a soft flabby texture, 7 to 9-ribbed; ribs broad; spines white; radial spines 5 to 8, 12 to 30 cm. long; centrals 1 to 4, 3-5 to 7.5 cm. long, angled, often curved; flowers pale purple.

E. ehrenbergii Cespitose, 2 dm. high; joints often procumbent, pale or leaf-green; ribs 6, obtuse, sinuate, areoles 2 cm. apart, white-felted; radial spines 8 to 10, slender, white; central spines 3 or 4, yellowish at base; flowers not known. Distributed in central Mexico.

E. engelmannii Mountains about San Felipe, southern California. Cespitose, forming large clumps; joints erect or ascending, cylindric, 1 to 3 dm. long, 5 to 6 cm in diameter; ribs 11 to 14, low, obtuse; areoles large, nearly circular; radial spines about 10, appressed, stiff about 1 cm. long. Distributed in California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Sonora, and Lower California.

E. fasciculatus Arizona and New Mexico (pinkflower hedgehog cactus)

E. fendleri Near Santa Fe, New Mexico. Cespitose; stems about 8, ascending or erect, 1 to 3 dm. long, 5 to 7.5 cm. in diameter; ribs rather prominent, 9 to 12, somewhat undulate; spines very variable as to color, length, and form; radial spines 5 to 10, more or less spreading, 1 to 2 cm. long. Distributed in Texas to Utah, Arizona, and northern Sonora and Chihuahua, Mexico. Varieties:
 * E. f. fendleri
 * E. f. hempelii
 * E. f. rectispinus

E. ferreirianus
 * E. f. ferreirianus
 * E. f. lindsayi

E. fitchii Plants short-cylindric or somewhat narrowed above, 8 to 10 cm. long, 4 to 5 cm. in diameter; ribs 10 to 12; low, rounded; areoles 4 to 6 mm. apart, small, circular; radial spines about 20, white, spreading, 4 to 6 mm. long; central spines 4 to 6, slightly spreading.

E. gentryi

E. grandis Stems usually single or in small clusters, sub-cylindric, 1 to 4 dm. high, 8 to 12 cm. in diameter; ribs 21 to 25, low; areoles large, longer than broad, about 1 cm. apart; spines dull white or cream-colored: rather short and stiff, the radials 15 to 25, the centrals 8 to 12, often in 2 rows; flowers 5 to 6 cm. long.

E. hempelii Mexico. Plant, so far as known, simple, erect, 1.5 dm. long or more, 6 to 7 cm. in diameter, dark green; ribs 10, strongly tuberculate; radial spines 6, spreading, white with brown tips, acicular, 1 cm. long or less; central spines none; flowers from near the top of plant. Distribution known only from cultivated plants.

E. huitcholensis Sierra de Nayarit, Jalisco, Mexico. Plants 4 to 6 cm. long, 2 to 4 cm. in diameter; radial spines 10 to 12; central spine usually solitary, flowers 11 cm. long or less, narrow. Distribution is known only from the type locality.

E. knippelianus At first simple, stout, a little higher than broad, about 10 cm. high, but in cultivation elongated, branching, very deep green, becoming turgid and flabby; ribs 5 to 7, more prominent upwards the top of the plant. Distributed in Mexico, but range unknown.

E. leeanus Northern Mexico. Plant erect, about 3 dm. high, 1 dm. thick at base, tapering gradually toward the top, simple so far as known; ribs 12 to 14, acute, bearing rather closely set areoles; spines about 12. Distributed in Mexico, but range undetermined.

E. ledingii Arizona (Leding's hedgehog cactus)

E. leonensis

E. lloydii Stems in clusters of 6 or more, very stout, 20 to 25 cm. high, 10 cm. in diameter, bright green; ribs 11, out 3 cm. apart, nearly straight; areoles 1 5 mm. apart, rather large, circular, somewhat woolly when young; opines rather short.

E. longisetus Santa Rosa, south of the Rio Grande in Coahuila. Plants simple or nearly so, cylindric, 15 to 25 cm. long, 5 to 7.5 cm. in diameter; ribs 11 to 14, somewhat tubercled; areoles circular; spines slender, elongated, white. Distributed in Coahuila.

E. luteus Above Alamos, Sonora,Mexico. Stem short to elongated, sometimes branching near base, bluish green, more or less purplish, 8 or 9-ribbed; ribs rather thin, barely undulate, rounded; areoles small, 10 to 12 mm. apart; spines small, the radials 6 to 8, unequal, 2 to 8 mm. long, widely spreading. Distributed in Western Mexico.

E. mamillatus Cespitose; stems ascending, 2 to 3 dm. long, cylindric, 3.5 to 6 cm. in diameter; ribs 20 to 25, sometimes oblique, strongly tuberculate; spines white or pinkish; radial spines 10 to 25, acicular, 3 to 12 mm. long; central spines 3 or 4, much stouter than some radials, 1 to 2.5 cm. long; flowers and fruit unknown.

E. maritimus Ensenada, Lower California. Decidedly cespitose, often forming clumps 60 to 90 cm. broad and 30 cm. high, sometimes containing 200 joints; individual joints globose to short-cylindric, 5 to 16 cm. long; ribs 8 to 10; areoles 10 to 12mm. apart; radial spines about 10, spreading. Distributed in the West coast of Lower California.

E. merkeri Cespitose; joints erect, 12 to 15 cm. in diameter, light green; ribs 8 or 9, sinuate; radial spines 6 to 9, white, shining; central spines 1 or rarely 2, often yellowish, larger than the radials, red at base; flowers purple. Distributed in Durango to Coahuila and San Luis Potosi, Mexico.

E. milleri

E. morricalii

E. neo-mexicanus Mesa west of the Organ Mountains, New Mexico. Cespitose, but with only a few stout simple joints, 18 to 25 cm. long, 7 cm. in diameter, obtuse, glaucous-green; ribs 11 or 12, obtuse, low, somewhat tuberculate; areoles 1 to 1.5 cm. apart; spines slender, subulate, somewhat spreading; radial spines 13 to 16, the longest only 1.5 cm. long, white or nearly so. Known distribution only from the type locality.

E. nicholii Arizona (Nichol's hedgehog cactus)

E. nivosus

E. octacanthus Northern Texas. Cespitose, with many simple joints; joints ovoid, yellowish green, 7 to 10 cm. long, 5 to 7 cm. in diameter; ribs 7 to 9, obtuse, somewhat tubercled; areoles when young white-woolly, in age naked, 8 to 16mm. apart; spines rigid, grayish brown; radial spines 7 or 8, 10 to 24 mm. long.

E. pacificus Todos Santos Bay, Lower California. Cespitose, growing in clumps 30 to 60 cm. in diameter, sometimes containing 100 stems, these 15 to 25 cm. long, 5 to 6 cm. in diameter; ribs 10 to 12, obtuse; spines gray, with a reddish tinge; radial spines 10 to 12, 5 to 10 mm. long.

E. palmeri Plants small, 5 to 8 cm. high, 2 to 3 cm. in diameter; areoles closely set, round; radial spines 12 to 15 spreading, slender, brown-tipped; central spine one, porrect, 15 to 20 mm. long, brown to blackish; flower 3.5 cm. long, purple; areoles on the ovary bearing a cluster of brown spines and white wool.

E. paucispinus

E. papillosus More or less cespitose, rather dark green, decumbent or ascending, 5 to 30 cm. long, 2 to 4 cm. in diameter; ribs 6 to 10, prominent, strongly tubercled; radial spines acicular, spreading, about 7, white to yellowish, 1 cm. long or less; central spine solitary, acicular, porrect, 12 mm. long or more; flowers large. Distributed in Western Texas.

E. pectinatus Near Villa del Pennasco, central Mexico. Plants simple, erect, cylindric, 1 to 1.5 dm. long, 3 to 6 cm. in diameter, almost hidden by the many short interlocking spines; ribs 20 to 22, usually straight; areoles approximate, but not touching one another, elliptic, 3 mm. long. Distributed in Central Mexico.

E. pensilis Sierra de la Laguna, Lower California. More or less cespitose; the stems often erect, 30 cm. high or, when growing on cliffs, hanging, and then nearly 2 meters long, 3 to 4 cm. in diameter; ribs 8 to 10, low; areoles about 10 mm. apart; spines needle-like, at first yellow, becoming reddish gray. Distributed in the high mountains of the Cape region of Lower California.

E. pentalophus Mexico. Procumbent, with ascending branches, deep green; ribs 4 to 6, somewhat undulate, bearing low tubercles; radial spines 4 or 5, very short, white with brown tips; central spine 1, rarely wanting; flowers reddish-violet, large, 7 to 12 cm. long. Distributed in Eastern Mexico and southern Texas.

E. perbellus Stem either simple or clustered, 5 to 10 cm. high; ribs 15, low and broad; distance between the areoles about equal to the length of the areoles themselves; areoles elongated; spines all radials, 12 to 15, spreading but not widely, 5 to 7 mm. long.

E. polyacanthus Cosihuiriachi, Chihuahua. Cespitose, forming clumps of 20 to 50 stems, pale green but often tinged with red; ribs usually 10, low; areoles approximate; spines gray when old, at first pale yellow, becoming more or less purplish; radial spines about 12. Distributed in Chihuahua and Durango, Mexico, to western New Mexico and southeastern Arizona.

E. poselgeri Texas (dahlia hedgehog cactus)

E. procumbens

E. pulchellus Stems obovate-cylindric, 5 to 7 cm. high, simple, glaucous; ribs 12, obtuse, more or less divided into tubercles; spines 3 to 5, short, straight, deciduous, yellowish; flowers rosy-white, about 4 cm. broad; inner serianth-segments lanceolate, acuminate.

E. purpureus

E. reichenbachii Mexico. More or less cespitose; stems simple, globose to short-cylindric, 2.5 to 20 cm. long, 5 to 9 cm. in diameter; ribs 12 to 19; areoles approximate, elliptic; spines 20 to 30, white to brown, but usually those of each individual plant of one color, pectinate, interlocking, 5 to 8 mm. long, spreading. Distributed in Texas and northern Mexico; recorded from western Kansas. Varieties:
 * E. r. armatus
 * E. r. baileyi
 * E. r. fitchii
 * E. r. perbellus
 * E. r. reichenbachii

E. rigidissimus Sonora. Plants simple, erect, rigid, short-cylindric, 1 to 2 dm. high, 4 to 10 cm. in diameter, usually hidden by the closely set interlocking spines; ribs numerous, 18 to 22, low; areoles approximate, elliptic, 5 to 6mm. long. Distributed in Southeastern Arizona and northern Sonora.

E. roetteri Near El Paso, Texas. Cespitose, or perhaps sometimes simple and occasionally budding above, 1 to 2.5 dm. high; ribs 13, straight, more or less undulate; areoles circular, or a little longer than broad, about 1 cm. apart; radial spines 15 to 17, acicular, about 1 cm. long, white or purplish. Distributed in Southwestern Texas; Chihuahua, near El Paso, and southeastern New Mexico.

E. rosei Agricultural College, New Mexico. Cespitose, forming small compact clumps, the stems 1 to 2 dm. long, 5 to 8 cm. in diameter; sometimes as many as 40; ribs 8 to 11, obtuse; areoles rather closely set; spines pinkish to brownish gray; radial spines about 10. Distributed in mountains and dry hills and sometimes on the mesas of southern New Mexico, western Texas, and adjacent parts of northern Mexico.

E. sarissophorus Cespitose; stems short, thick, pale green, about 10 cm. thick; ribs 9; radial spines 7 to 10, slender; centrals several, 5 to 8 cm. long, often bluish, somewhat angled; flowers purplish, 7 to 8 cm. long.

E. scheeri Near Chihuahua. Cespitose; stems procumbent, prostrate or ascending, decidedly narrowed towards the tip, 10 to 22 cm. long, yellowish green; ribs 8 to 10, rather low, not at all sinuate, somewhat spiraled; spines 7 to 12, acicular. Distributed in Chihuahua, Mexico.

E. sciurus Hills near San Jose del Cabo, Lower California. Densely cespitose, with many individuals forming clumps sometimes 60 cm. broad; stems slender, often 20 cm. long, often nearly hidden by the many spines; ribs 12 to 17, low, divided into numerous tubercles 5 to 6 mm. apart; areoles small, approximate, circular, at first woolly, becoming naked; radial spines 15 to 18, sometimes 15 mm. long. Distributed in Southern end of Lower California.

E. schmollii

E. scopulorum Stems single, cylindric, 10 to 40 cm. long, nearly hidden by the closely set spines; ribs 13 or more, low, somewhat tuberculate; areoles circular, devoid of wool (at least in areoles of the previous year) ; spines highly colored, pinkish or brownish with blackish tips, in age, however, gray and stouter.

E. standleyi Nearly globular or short-cylindric, 4 to 5 cm. in diameter; ribs 12 ; areoles elongated, closely set; radial spines about 16, stoutish, whitish but yellow at base; central spine one, similar to but much larger and stouter than the radials, 2 to 2.5 cm. long, porrect.

E. stramineus Mountain slopes, El Paso, Texas. Plants grouped in masses forming immense mounds 1 to 2 meters in diameter and 3 to 10 dm. high; joints 12 to 25 cm. long, 3 to 7 cm. in diameter; ribs about 13, almost hidden by the long spines; spines at first brownish to straw-colored, in age nearly white; radial spines 7 to 14, 2 to 3 cm. long. Distributed in Western Texas, southern New Mexico, and northern Chihuahua.

E. spinibarbis

E. stoloniferus

E. subterraneus

E. subinermis Near Chihuahua, Mexico. At first simple, 10 to 12 cm. high, afterwards a little branching at base, when young pale green, afterwards bluish and finally darker green, erect; ribs 5 to 8, broad, somewhat sinuate; spines all radial, 1 to 2 mm. long, yellow, 3 or 4, deciduous; flowers large. . Distributed in Northern Mexico.

E. triglochidiatus Always cespitose, with few or many simple stems, these 2 to 6 dm. long, 5 to 8 cm. in diameter, deep green, erect or spreading, 5 to 8-ribbed; spines 3 to 8, various, nearly terete to strongly angled, when young reddish to yellow, but gray in age, usually spreading, often all radial, 3 cm. long or less.

E. uspenskii

E. viereckii

E. viridiflorus Plants small, nearly globular, but sometimes cylindric and 20 cm. high, simple, or more or less cespitose; ribs 14, low; areoles elongated; spines white, dark brown or variegated, usually arranged in circular bands of light and dark about the plant; radial spines about 16. Varieites:
 * E. v. chloranthus Texas and New Mexico.
 * E. v. correllii Texas (Correll's hedgehog cactus)
 * E. v. cylindricus Texas and New Mexico (nylon hedgehog cactus)
 * E. v. russanthus
 * E. v. viridiflorus Mid-United States (nylon hedgehog cactus)

E. websterianus

E. weinbergii Very stout, usually simple, at first globose, becoming conical, at least in cultivation, 13 cm. in diameter; more or less undulate; areoles elliptic, approximate; radial spines 9 to 12, pectinate, 3 to 12 mm. long, at first white or rose but in age yellowish; central spines none; flowers diurnal, 3.6 cm. broad, rose-colored; inner perianth-segments in several series, 1.5 to 3 cm. long, 4 to 5 mm. broad, lanceolate; fruit not known.