Echinocereus bonkerae
Echinocereus fendleri
bonker hedgehog, pinkflower hedgehog cactus
Fendler's hedgehog cactus, pinkflower hedgehog cactus, strawberry cactus
mostly erect, ovoid to cylindric, 15–30(–50) × 3.5–7 cm;
ribs (11–)12–18(–20), crests slightly undulate;
areoles 8–20 mm apart.
erect or slightly decumbent, ovoid to cylindric with age, 7.5–17(–30) × (3.3–)3.8–7.5(–10) cm;
ribs 8–11(–13), crests uninterrupted or undulate (sometimes depth of sinus between areoles is 90% of rib height in flowering plants with juvenile stem morphology);
areoles (12–)15–17(–25) mm apart.
(9–)12–17 per areole, straight in short-spined forms, sometimes curved or twisted in long-spined forms, appressed (radial spines) or porrect to spreading or descending (central spines when present), dull yellowish to brown or white to gray, often brown to black especially at bases or tips;
radial spines (9–)11–16 per areole, 5–18 mm;
central spines (0–)1(–3) per areole, 2–100 mm, white to yellow or brown, often becoming gray, all terete.
(2–)4–12(–16) per areole, straight or curved (radial spines sometimes sinuous);
radial spines spreading, opaquely white, commonly with dark stripe on underside, often with contrasting black or brown spines in same areoles (rarely all brown or all white), aging gray;
radial spines (2–)4–10(–12) per areole, (8–)11–39 mm;
central spines (0–)1(–3) per areole, porrect or ascending, if curved, then usually directed upward, (10–)25–42(–62) mm, abaxial central spine like others in color or darker, flat to sharply angled.
5–7 × 4–9 cm;
flower tube 12–20 × 10–30 mm;
flower tube hairs 1 mm;
inner tepals deep magenta (to dark purple) with darker midstripes, proximally green (to very dark purple), 20–60 × 8.5–20 mm, tips relatively thin and delicate;
anthers yellow;
nectar chamber 2–4 mm.
5–11 × 5–11 cm;
flower tube 10–15 × 10–30 mm;
flower tube hairs 1–2 mm;
inner tepals magenta [or nearly white], proximally sometimes darker or purplish maroon, 30–70 × (9.5–)12–15 mm, tips relatively thin and delicate;
anthers yellow;
nectar chamber (2–)3.5–6(–8) mm.
bright red or orange red, 15–25 mm, pulp white (or pale pink).
bright red, dull carmine, or purplish maroon, less often orange-tan or purplish orange, 20–30(–50) mm, pulp magenta or red.
= 22.
= 22.
Echinocereus bonkerae
Echinocereus fendleri
Plants in most populations of Echinocereus bonkerae have radial spines almost pectinately arranged and central spines very short or absent, creating the superficial appearance of E. dasyacanthus, E. pectinatus, or similar species. Formerly, all short-spined plants in central and southern Arizona were treated as E. bonkerae, including unusually short-spined individuals of E. fendleri and E. fasciculatus. Today we recognize that E. bonkerae, E. fendleri, and E. fasciculatus all vary from short-spined to long-spined.
Populations at the lowest altitude for the species have taller stems and unusually long, slender central spines (to 10 cm); they have recently been named Echinocereus apachensis. Such plants were part of the basis for L. D. Benson’s polyphyletic concept (1969, 1982) of E. fasciculatus var. boyce-thompsonii (see 8. E. fasciculatus).
Echinocereus bonkerae is a poorly defined species, frequently lumped with E. fendleri or E. fasciculatus, and it is not always identifiable in the field. Although rib number, blooming season, habitat preference, and, in particular regions, spine length or central spine presence are helpful characteristics, ploidy level is the most objective criterion for distinguishing E. bonkerae from E. fasciculatus. Immature plants of E. bonkerae are like E. fasciculatus and unlike the immature plants of E. fendleri, which are tuberculate with their spines long, few, soft, and often curved or twisted.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Frequently, some or all spines in each areole of Echinocereus fendleri are opaquely white, especially the lowermost (largest) radial spine, which is frequently strongly flattened (dorsiventrally compressed, its margins expanded and textured spongy or corky). On some immature plants, all the spines are modified in that way, reminiscent of spines of Pediocactus peeblesianus (Croizat) L. D. Benson.
Echinocereus fendleri has an indefinite number of (mostly) unnamed geographic races. One of these, var. rectispinus, of southeastern Arizona has enjoyed undeserved emphasis in the literature; it is often based on misidentifications of tetraploid E. fasciculatus.
The tuberculate stems and sparse, strangely modified spines of immature plants are retained to some extent in adulthood in some populations of Echinocereus fendleri var. fendleri. Such plants superficially resemble Pediocactus peeblesianaus. The name E. fendleri var. kuenzleri (Castetter, P. Pierce & K. H. Schwerin) L. D. Benson and its Mexican counterpart, E. hempelii Fobe, are based mainly on the stem feature. Immature plants of all populations share that distinctive appearance, strikingly different from immature plants of similar or related species, such as E. fasciculatus. In adulthood this convenient diagnostic characteristic is usually lost, rendering identification more difficult. On the Mexican border immature plants in some populations have as few as four spines per areole; they probably are intermediates with the obviously conspecific Chihuahuan taxon, E. hempelii Fobe.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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