Echinocereus bonkerae
Echinocereus viridiflorus
bonker hedgehog, pinkflower hedgehog cactus
green pitaya, nylon hedgehog cactus, small-flower h edgehog 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, spheric to short cylindric, (3–)8–30(–35) × 2.8–9 cm;
ribs 10–20, crests prominent, slightly to conspicuously undulate;
areoles 3–12 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.
(13–)18–30(–55) per areole, stiff (flexible) and straight (or slightly curved), sometimes pectinately arranged, red-and-white, red-and-yellow, yellow-and-white, whitish, yellowish, or purplish, tips often darker;
radial spines 12–38(–45) per areole, appressed to spreading, (2–)4–18 mm;
central spines 0–17 per areole, spreading to projecting, terete (subulate), 3–5–40 mm.
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.
2–3.5 × (1–)1.5–3 cm;
flower tube (4–)5–12 × 5–15 mm;
flower tube hairs 1–2 mm;
inner tepals shades of yellow or brown, frequently tending towards yellowish green or brick red (rarely carmine in Davis Mountains populations), often with darker purplish maroon midstripes, 10–25 × 2–4 mm, tips relatively thin and delicate;
anthers yellow;
nectar chamber 1–2[–3] mm.
bright red or orange red, 15–25 mm, pulp white (or pale pink).
yellowish green to dark green, dark purple, or reddish tinged, 6–17 mm, pulp white.
= 22.
= 22.
Echinocereus bonkerae
Echinocereus viridiflorus
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.)
A large number of infraspecific taxa have been recognized within Echinocereus viridiflorus, differing in various combinations of flower color, spine color, number and thickness of central spines, and other characters, including floral scent. Populations of E. viridiflorus with the most numerous central spines (five or more per areole), giving the plants a bristly appearance, are often considered a separate species, E. chloranthus. Wherever such taxa are sympatric they intergrade; all are freely interfertile in the greenhouse.
The common morphotype at middle altitudes in Texas and southeastern New Mexico has 0–2(–3) central spines and is called either Echinocereus viridiflorus var. cylindricus (Engelmann) Rümpler or E. chloranthus var. cylindricus (Engelmann) N. P. Taylor. Typical E. viridiflorus (var. viridiflorus), with small stems and relatively pure yellow flowers, extends from central New Mexico and the Texas Panhandle to South Dakota. One of the segregate taxa, Echinocereus chloranthus var. neocapillus D. Weniger, is remarkable for its softly hairy, not sharply spiny, seedlings. Populations of E. viridiflorus from Big Bend National Park, usually with reddish or russet flowers, have been named E. russanthus D. Weniger. Yellow-spined plants may occur at high altitudes. A poorly defined, yellow-spined population near Marathon, Texas, has been named E. viridflorus var. correllii L. D. Benson. Bristly red-spined plants from New Mexico have recently been segregated as E. chloranthus subsp. rhyolithensis W. Blum & Mich. Lange.
Echinocereus viridiflorus in the broad sense may prove paraphyletic with respect to E. davisii, but they are phenologically isolated, with E. davisii flowering earlier and thus appearing reproductively isolated in the wild.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
KS Wildflowers
