WikiBotanicals:Ferocactus

Ferocactus (from Fero, fierce; referring to the  spines of the Ferocactus). About 30 species have been identified. Along with producing “fierce” spines, Ferocactus reach enormous sizes. The largest of the genus (diguetii) can reach 12 feet.

Background
Globular to cylindric, often large cacti; ribs thick and prominent; spines well developed, either straight or hooked; areoles usually large, bearinig ﬂowers only when young and then only just above the spine-clusters, more or less felted when young; owers usually large, broadly funnel-shaped to campanulate, usually with a very short tube; stamens numerous, borne on the throat, short; ovary and ﬂower-tube very scaly; scales naked in their axils; fruit oblong, usually thick-walled and dry, dehiscing by a large basal pore; seeds black, pitted, never tuberculate; embryo curved. Type species is Ecbinocactus wislizeni. The genus differs from Echinocactus proper in its fruits and ﬂowers.

The oldest species in this genus is Ferocactus nobilis which was collected by William Houston in Mexico before 1733. It was described by Miller in the Gardeners’ Magazine 7th ed. 1759. Upon this description Linnaeus in 1767 (Mantissa 243) based his Cactus nobilis and Miller in 1768 (Gard. Mag.) his Cactus recurvus.

Species
F. acanthodes (Desert barrel cactus, Compass barrel cactus). At first globular but in age cylindric, sometimes nearly 3 meters high, very spiny; ribs numerous, often as many as 27, acute, 1 to 2 cm. high; areoles large, 1 cm. in diameter or more, densely brown-felted when young, closely set, often nearly contiguous; spines often white or pinkish or sometimes bright red; radial spines weak, setiform or acicular; usually pungent, often spreading; central spines subulate, slender, spreading, more or less flattened, annulate, tortuous and more or less curved, but never hooked at the tip, the longest 10 to 12 cm. long; flowers campanulate, yellow to orange, 4 to 6 cm. long, usually broader than long; scales on the ovary and flower-tube imbricate, ovate, with a large purple blotch on their back, gradually passing upward into the perianth-segments; inner perianth-segments glossy, narrowly oblong to spatulate, obtusish, often toothed; filaments numerous, yellow, papillose; style greenish yellow, swollen below; stigma-lobes 14, yellow, about one-third the length of the style; fruit oblong, 3 cm. long, crowned by the scaly perianth, dry, dehiscing by a basal pore; seeds black, 3.5 mm. long, pitted.

F. almosanus Alamos Mountain, Mexico. Plants usually single, sometimes in clusters, somewhat flattened above, green, 30 cm. in diameter or more; ribs about 20, narrow; spines all yellow; radials usually 8, 3 to 4 cm. long, more or less spreading; central single, porrect or erect, somewhat flattened laterally, 6 cm. long and a little longer than the radials; flower-buds covered with ovate, ciliate scales, these brownish except in the margin; fruit unknown. Distributed in Southern Sonora, Mexico.

F. chrysacanthus Globose to cylindric; ribs about 18, tubercled; radial spines 4 to many, slender, white; central spines sometimes as many as 10, 5 cm. long, either red or yellow, curved; flowers from near the center o the plant, 5 cm. broad when fully open; scales naked in the axils, closely set and overlapping, the lower one orbicular and green, the upper ones more oval, brownish or with brown tips, the margin thin, sometimes ciliate or ragged; outer perianth-segments rather stiff, pinkish brown; inner perianth-segments 2 cm. long, satiny yellow with a jagged or toothed margin; fruit yellow, 3 cm. long; seeds large, black.

F. crassihamatus Queretaro. Simple, globose to short-cylindric, pale green, somewhat glaucous; ribs 13, rather prominent, obtuse strongly undulate; areoles large, only a few on each rib; radial spines 8, spreading, the upper ones straight 2 or 3 of the lower ones hooked; central spines 5, longer and stouter than the radials, usually red, the stoutest one porrect and hooked; flowers small, about 2 cm. long, purple; inner perianth-segments linear-oblong, acute. Distributed in Queretaro, Mexico.

F. covillei (Emory’s barrel cactus, Coville’s barrel cactus) Plant simple, globular to short-cylindric, often 1.5 meters high; ribs 22 to 32, 2 to 4 cm. high, rather thin, when young more or less tubercled, but when old hardly undulate; areoles on small plants distant, often 3 to 4 cm. apart, but on old and flowering plants approximate or contiguous, densely brown-felted when young, naked in age, the spine-bearing areoles large and circular; the flowering areoles more elongated and complex, divided into three parts, the lower part bearing spines, the central part spinescent glands, and the upper part the flower; spines variable as to color, sometimes red to white; radial spines 5 to 8, somewhat spreading, subulate, straight or more or less curved backward, 3 to 6 cm. long, annulate; central spine always solitary, very variable, straight or with the tip bent or even strongly hooked, annulate, terete to strongly flattened or 3-angled, 3 to 8 cm. long; upper areoles of old plants bearing 5 to 7 glands, becoming spinescent, 5 to 6 mm. long; flowers described as red, tipped with yellow, sometimes reported as yellow throughout, 6 to 7 cm. long; inner perianth-segments linear-oblong, acuminate, often serrate; throat broad, covered with stamens; tube-proper short, 2 to 3 mm. long; fruit oblong, 5 cm. long, bearing a few broad scales; seeds black, dull or shining, nearly smooth or slightly pitted, 2 mm. long.

F. cylindraceus (California barrel cactus and miner's compass) California. This cactus is usually cylindrical or spherical, with some older specimens forming columns two meters in height. It is covered in long, plentiful spines, which are straight and red when new and become curved and gray as they age. It bears bright yellow flowers with red or yellow centers on the side that faces the sun. The fleshy, hollow fruits are yellow. This cactus is native to the Anza-Borrego Desert, Mojave and Sonoran Deserts. A picturesque organism, this already uncommon plant is threatened by collectors.

F. diquetii (Giant barrel cactus). Santa Catalina Island, off Lower California. Plants very stout, usually 1 to 2 meters, but sometimes 3 and 4 meters, high, 6 to 8 dm. in diameter or more; ribs numerous, sometimes as many as 39, rather thin; areoles large, 1 to 1.5 cm. long, somewhat elliptic, approximate or on old plants coalescent; spines 6 to 8, yellow, subulate, 3 to 4 cm. long, slightly curved and a little spreading; flowers numerous, 3 to 3.5 cm. long; scales on ovary and flower-tube ovate, closely imbricate, thin on the margin and somewhat lacerate; inner perianth-segments red with yellow margins, oblong, 2 cm. long; filaments pink, numerous; tube of flower below stamens very short; style yellow; fruit scaly. Distribution includes Islands of the Gulf of California.

F. echidne (Sonora Barrel, Coville's Barrel Cactus, Emory's Barrel Cactus, Traveler's Friend) Mexico. Depressed-globose, 12.5 cm. high, 18 cm. in diameter, green; ribs 13, acute, broad at base; areoles remote, velvety when young, oval in shape; radial spines rigid, about 7, about 2 cm. long, yellow; central spine solitary, porrect, 3 cm. long or more; flowers lemon-yellow; perianth-segments linear-oblong, acute, sometimes toothed near the apex; stigma-lobes about 10, elongated, spreading or reflexed; scales on the ovary ovate, acute. Distributed in Hidalgo, Mexico.

F. fordii (ford barrel cactus). Globose to short-cylindric, grayish green, 12 cm. in diameter; ribs usually 21, about 1 cm. high; areoles about 2 cm. apart; radial spines whitish, acicular, widely spreading, about 15; central spines usually 4; one of the centrals ﬂattened, porrect, longer than the others, with a curved or hooked tip, about 4 cm. long; the other centrals subulate, somewhat angled; ﬂowers rose-colored, 3.5 to 4 cm. long; outer perianth-segments ovate to ovate-oblong, acute; inner perianth-segments linear, acuminate; scales on the ovary broadly ovate; ﬁlaments pink; style and stigma-lobes greenish yellow to whitish. Distributed in lower California.

F. glaucescens (Blue Barrel Cactus) Toliman, Mexico. Globular, 2 to 4 dm. in diameter, or a little higher than broad, glaucous; ribs 11 to 15, somewhat flattened, acute, 2 to 3 cm. high; areoles 8 to 12 mm. apart, oblong, 12 to 20 cm. long, yellowish, tomentose when young; radial spines 6, nearly equal, rigid, only slightly spreading, straight, 2.5 to 3 cm. long, pale yellow at first, when old blackish, more or less banded; central spine solitary, similar to the radials; flowers yellow, 2 cm. long, perhaps broader when fully expanded; outer perianth-segments ovate, acuminate, sometimes brownish on the back, ciliate on the margins; inner perianth-segments oblong, usually only acute, somewhat toothed or lacerate; stigma-lobes slender, cream-colored; scales on the ovary brownish, ovate! acute, ciliate on the margins, imbricate. Distributed in Eastern central Mexico.

F. hamatacanthus Mexico. Solitary, globular to oblong, up to 60 cm. high; ribs usually 13, sometimes 17, strongly tuberded, 2 to 3 cm. high; areoles large, 1 to 3 cm. apart; radial spines about 12, acicular, terete, 5 to 7 cm. long; central spines 4, elongated, angled, sometimes 15 cm. long, one of them hooked at apex; flowers large, 7 to 8 cm. long, yellow, in some forms said to be scarlet within; fruit oblong, 2 to 5 cm. long, fleshy, edible, dirk brown to drab-colored (not red); seeds pitted. Distributed in Southern Texas, New Mexico, and northern Mexico.

F. horridus Globular, 3 dm. in diameter or more; ribs 13, broad, 2 cm. high, obtuse, not tubercled; areoles 1.5 to 2.5 cm. apart, large; radial spines 8 to 12, acicular, spreading, white, 3 to 4 cm. long; central spines 6 to 8, very diverse, all reddish, either spreading or porrect, all straight except 1, this much elongated, often 12cm. long, much flattened, very strongly hooked; flowers and fruit unknown.

F. johnsonii Near St. George, Utah. Simple, oblong, 10 to 20 cm. high, up to 11.5 cm. in diameter, often hidden under its mass of spines; ribs 17 to 21, low, somewhat tuberculate; spines reddish gray; radial spines 10 to 14, spreading, 10 to 20mm. long; central spines 4 to 8, longer and stouter than the radials, somewhat curved, the upper ones connivent, 3.5 to 4 cm. long; flowers deep red to pink, 5 to 6.5 cm. long, sometimes 10 cm. broad when fully expanded; inner perianth-segments oblong to spatulate, obtuse; ovary bearing a few broad, scarious, fimbriate, margined scales; fruit oblong, 10 to 15 cm. long, nearly naked; seeds finely reticulated. Distributed in Northwestern Arizona, eastern California, western Utah, and southern Nevada.

F. lecontei (Barrel Cactus). Lower parts of the Gila in western Arizona. Becoming cylindric, 2 meters high or more, rather slender; ribs numerous, 20 to 30, somewhat undulate; areoles longer than broad; some of the radial spines thread-like or bristly; the other radials and the central spines flattened and flexible, usually appressed against the plant, most of them ascending,rarely if ever hooked, white to red; flowers originally described as yellow, also reported as red, 5 to 6 cm. long; fruit oblong, yellow; seeds minute, less than 2 mm. long, black, shiny, reticulated, slightly compressed. Distributed in Southern California along the Colorado, northern Lower California, Sonora, and east into Utah and Arizona. The geographic limits of the plant are ill-defined. It seems to overlap or at least to interlock with the western range of F. wislizeni, while the dividing line of the west between it and the following species is unknown to us. The species always has been confused with Ferocactus wislizeni.

F. macrodiscus Simple, depressed-globose or sometimes short-cylindric, sometimes 4.5 dm. in diameter; ribs 16, perhaps more in some specimens, somewhat flattened, sometimes acute on the margin, somewhat depressed at the distant areoles; spines all yellow, more or less curved backward; radial spines 6 to 8, mostly 2 to 3 cm. long; central spines 4, stouter and flatter than the radials, 3-5 cm. long; flowers 5 cm. long, dark red to purple, obconic; inner perianth-segments linear-oblong, acute; stamens and style included. Distributed in San Luis Potosi and southward.

F. melocactiformis Mexico. Simple, cylindric, 5 to 6 dm. in diameter, bluish green; ribs about 24; areoles 2 to 3 cm. apart; spine usually 10 to 12, a little curved, yellow, becoming brown, of these 6 to 8 slender-subulate, 2 to 3 cm. long, more or less spreading; 3 or 4 spines more central than the others, but usually only one definitely so, much stouter and longer, 4 to 6 cm. long, porrect or ascending, annulate; flowers 2.5 to 3.5 cm. long, bright yellow sometimes reddish without; inner perianth-segments linear-oblong, acute, somewhat spreading; stigma-lobes 6, linear, green; scales on the ovary ovate, acute, small, 2 to 4 mm. long, somewhat ciliate; fruit short-oblong, about 2 cm. long, somewhat edible; seeds minute, 1 mm. long, brown. Distributed in Eastern Mexico.

F. nobilis This species is referred both to Mexico and Peru. It is undoubtedly from eastern Mexico for it is based on Cactus recurvus of Miller. In the original description Miller thus speaks of it, "The third sort was brought into England by the late Dr. William Houston who procured the plant from Mexico." We do not know this species definitely, but plants collected by Dr. MacDougal and Dr. Rose in Tomellin Canyon, Oaxaca, answer the description, but have flowers up to 4 cm. long.

F. orcuttii Palm Valley, Lower California. Single, or cespitose in clusters of 15 to 20 stems, 6 to 13 dm. high, 2.5 to 4.5 dm. in diameter; ribs 13 to 30, somewhat spiraled, obtuse, somewhat tuberculate; areoles approximate; spines reddish, straight or simply curved, all annulate, angled or flat; radial spines 9 to 13, spreading; central spines 4, stouter than the radials; flower 3 to 5 cm. long, dull crimson; perianth-segments short-oblong, rounded at apex with a more or less erose-margin; scales on the ovary orbicular, small; stigma-lobes 16 to 20, green; fruit described as pulpy, crimson, scaly; seeds numerous, small.

F. peninsulae Lower California, but no definite locality cited. Simple, erect, 2.5 meters high, clavate to cylindric; ribs 12 to 20, prominent; areoles 4 cm. apart or even less in old plants; spines red with yellow tips; radial spines 11, spreading, straight, terete, more or less annulate, the lower ones stouter and more colored; central spines 4. Distributed in Southern Lower California.

F. pringlei (Mexican Fire Barrel Cactus, Fire Barrel) Jimulco, Coahuila, Mexico. growing in clumps, becoming cylindric, sometimes 5 meters high and 5 to 4 dm. in diameter; ribs usually 16 to 18, more or less compressed; areoles numerous, closely set or contiguous, the outer margin with a row of white or straw-colored hairs, 2 to 4 cm. long; spines red, various, the three lower ones slender, almost acicular, the innermost much stouter, somewhat flattened, angular, curved or nearly straight; flowers red without, yellow within, 2.5 cm. long; scales on the ovary numerous, orbicular, imbricated; inner perianth-segments oblanceolate, obtuse or apiculate; fruit yellow, somewhat succulent, dehiscing by abasal pore, 5 to 4 cm. long, crowned by the persisting perianth; seeds 1.5 mm. long, brownish, pitted, with a small basal hilum.

F. rectispinus (Long Spined Barrel Cactus, Straight Spine Barrel) Vicinity of Muleje, Lower California. Globose to cylindric, 1 to 2 meters high; radial spines 8 to 12, the three upper spines stouter and some times curved; central spine one, 9 to 13 cm. long (not 30 to 32 cm. long), rather slender, nearly straight never hooked; flowers 6 cm. long, yellowish; scales on ovary rounded, thin-margined, sometimes ciliate, naked in the axils; inner perianth-segments lemon-yellow, lanceolate, 5 cm. long, acuminate. Distributed in Central Lower California.

F. rostii Sometimes growing in clumps of 8 to 10 heads but usually slender-cylindric, up to 3 meters high; ribs 16 to 22, rather low (hardly 1 cm. high), obtuse, somewhat tubercled; areoles large, white-felted, approximate; spine-clusters closely set, the spines interlocking and almost hiding the body of the plant; radial bristles sometimes wanting but when present 2 to 8, white or yellowish; spines about 12, sometimes fewer. 3 or 4 central, those on the lower part of the plant more or less spreading, those at or near the top erect, somewhat flexible, flattened, annulate, pungent, either straight or curved at apex, perhaps never hooked, usually yellow but sometimes reddish on young plants but also turning yellow in age; flowers dark yellow; fruit red.

F. santa-maria Cylindric, 6 dm. high or more; ribs about 14; outer spines several, thread-like; central spines in 2 series, all straight, grayish, all annulate, subulate, the central one stouter, flatter, ascending; somewhat curved at tip; old flowers persisting, 6 to 7 cm. long; fruit 3 to 4 cm. long, bearing orbicular scales; seeds 2 mm. long, finely reticulated.

F. stainesii (Mexican Fire Barrel Cactus, Fire Barrel) San Luis Potosi, Mexico. simple or proliferous, globular to columnar, up to 1.5 meters high; ribs 13 to 20, compressed, more or less undulate; areoles distant, circular; radial spines reduce to long white hairs; central spines several, subulate, at first purplish, becoming pale yellow in age; flowers yellow; fruit unknown. This species differs from Ferocactus pringlei one in having more distant ribs, the areoles more widely separated, the spines duller colored, more numerous, somewhat curved, two of them decidedly flattened and the hairs white.

F. townsendianus Short-cylindric, 4 dm. high or more; ribs about 16, often spiraled, somewhat undulate; areoles large, distant; radial spines widely spreading, 14 to 16, 3 to 4 cm. long, most of them thread-like, but often 2 or more above and below, subulate; central spines subulate, grayish, usually one curved or hooked at apex, the others straight, all annulate; flowers large, 5 to 6 cm. long; outer perianth-segments ovate, reddish, with narrow yellow margins; inner perianth-segments oblong-lanceolate with a narrow pink stripe down the center with greenish-yellow margins; filaments and style dark pink; stigma-lobes pale greenish brown.

F. uncinatus (Chihuahuan Fishhook Cactus Brown-Flowered Hedgehog, Catclaw Cactus, Turk's Head Cactus, Texas Hedgehog) Mexico. Plant short-cylindric, 10 to 20 cm. high, bluish, slightly glaucous, with spindle-shaped roots; ribs usually 13, straight, strongly tubercled, undulate; flowering areoles narrow, extending from the spine-clusters to the base of the tubercles with the flower at the opposite end, felted; areoles also bearing one or more large flat yellow glands, these surrounded by a ring of short yellow hairs; central spine usually solitary, 12 cm. long or less, erect, yellow below, reddish above, hooked at tip; 3 lower radial spines spreading or reflexed, hooked; upper radials straight; flowers brownish, 2 to 2.5 cm. long, widely spreading, perianth-segments numerous, linear-oblong; filaments numerous, short; scales on ovary and flower-tube triangular, scarious-margined, in age broadly auriculate at base; fruit small, oblong, 2 cm. long, at first green, turning brown to crimson and finally scarlet, naked except the appressed scales, somewhat fleshy, edible; seeds black, small, oblong, 1 to 1.5 mm. long, with basal hilum; cotyledons foliaceous. Distributed in Rocky ridges and foothill-slopes in western Texas to central Mexico.

F. viridescens (Coast barrel cactus, San Diego barrel cactus). Near San Diego, California. At first nearly globose or somewhat depressed, in age becoming cylindric, 3 to 4.5 dm. high, 2.5 to 3.5 dm. in diameter, simple or cespitose, deep green, somewhat glossy; ribs 13 to 21, somewhat rounded 1 to 2 cm. high, obtuse, undulate; areoles narrow, elliptic, 1 to 2 cm. long, spine-bearing in the lower part felted in upper part, flower-bearing and also with several reddish glands, these becoming elongated and spinescent in age; spines at first bright red, becoming duller by age or turning yellow or horn-colored; radial spines 9 to 20, more or less spreading, 1 to 2 cm. long; central spines 4, the lower one stouter and more flattened, up to 3.5 cm. long; flowers yellowish green, 4 cm. long; perianth-segments oblong, obtuse, sometimes apiculate, more or less serrulate on the margins; flower-tube bearing stamens almost to the top of the ovary; scales on the ovary orbicular, imbricate; fruit 1.6 to 2 cm. long, reddish with a pleasant acid taste; seeds 1.6 mm. long, pitted. Distributed in California and Lower California near the International Boundary Line, not far from the sea coast and in the foothills.

F. wislizeni (fishhook barrel cactus, Arizona barrel cactus, candy barrel cactus, and Southwestern barrel cactus). Doñana, New Mexico. At first globular but becoming cylindric, when very old much elongated, 2 meters long or more, usually simple, but when injured often giving off several heads or branches; ribs numerous, often 25, 3 cm. high; areoles elliptic, large, sometimes 2.5 cm. long, brown-felted, 2 to 3 cm. apart, or the flowering ones often approximate; spines variable; radials, absent in young plants, thread-like to acicular, the longest 5 cm. long; central spines several, white to red, annular, all subulate, one of them much stouter, usually strongly flattened, strongly hooked; ﬂowers yellow, some red, 5 to 6 cm. long; fruit yellow, oblong, scaly, 4 to 5 cm. long; seeds dull black, the surfaces covered with shallow indistinct pits. Distribution includes El Paso, Texas, west through southern New Mexico and Chihuahua to Arizona and Sonora and perhaps south along the Gulf of California into Sinaloa.