Flora of North America species comparison

The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Echinocereus dasyacanthus

Echinocereus chisosensis

spiny hedgehog cactus, Texas rainbow cactus

Chisos Mountains hedgehog cactus
Habit Plants unbranched or few branched, forming loose clumps of fewer than 20 stiff branches in old age. Plants inconspicuous, unbranched or forming small lax clumps.
Stems

erect, ovoid, becoming cylindric with age, 11–23(–40) × (4.5–)5.5–7(–10) cm;

ribs (13–)15–19(–21), crests rather sharply undulate;

areoles 5–11 mm apart.

erect or ascending, short cylindric, 12.5–20(–30) × 3–5 cm;

ribs (10–)13–16, crests strongly undulate;

areoles 5–8.5 mm apart.
Spines

19–28 per areole, straight, appressed (radial spines) or spreading in all directions (central spines), presenting relatively bristly appearance (except when spines very short, and then having relatively smooth appearance as in E. pectinatus), pink to pale yellow, white, or tan, less often dark brown or purplish, annual growth increments marked (often vaguely) by rings of spines with contrasting colors;

radial spines (16–)17–25(–28) per areole, 5–15(–25) mm;

central spines (2–)8–12(–15) per areole, terete, largest spines 4.5–9.5(–14) mm.

11–20 per areole, straight, white, pinkish gray, pale pink, dark brown, or purplish black, tipped brown, central spines darkest (sometimes with annual rings of ± contrasting spine color);

radial spines 10–17 per areole, 5–20 mm;

central spines (1–)2(–6) per areole, appressed to slightly projecting or spreading, terete, 3.5–17 mm.
Flowers

7–8.5(–10) × 7–12 cm;

flower tube 10–20 × to 10 mm;

flower tube hairs 1–3 mm;

inner tepals either yellow (rarely orange-yellow, sometimes becoming salmon- or rose-pink with age), or rose-pink to magenta, proximal 5–30% green in either case, (25–)32–69(–77) × 8–23 mm, tips relatively thin and delicate;

anthers yellow;

nectar chamber 2–6 mm.

6–9.5 × 5–7 cm;

flower tube 10–30 mm;

flower tube hairs 3–5(–10) mm;

inner tepals white proximally, with basal marks crimson or maroon, bright rose-pink distally, 1.8–5 × 5–16 mm, tips relatively thin and delicate;

anthers yellow;

nectar chamber 1–2 mm.
Fruits

dark dull purplish to maroon (sometimes remaining green), 2–3.5 cm, pulp white to purplish pink.

green, 15– 35 mm, pulp white.
2n

= 44.

= 22.

Echinocereus dasyacanthus

Echinocereus chisosensis
Phenology Flowering Mar–May; fruiting Jun–Aug. Flowering Mar–May; fruiting 2 months after flowering.
Habitat Chihuahuan desert scrub, valleys to rocky canyonsides, limestone Chihuahuan Desert, usually sheltered by low, perennial vegetation, desert scrub, gravelly alluvium, bajadas
Elevation 600-1500 m (2000-4900 ft) 600-900 m (2000-3000 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
NM; TX; Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
TX
Discussion

Flower color of Echinocereus dasyacanthus is spectacularly polymorphic. Unlike E. pectinatus var. wenigeri, however, the inner tepals are never white proximally. No hybrids are known to occur where the tetraploid E. dasyacanthus grows sympatrically with the diploid E. pectinatus, near the Pecos River. The names E. pectinatus var. neomexicanus and var. minor pertain to the hybrids with E. coccineus, E. ×roetteri, including E. ×lloydia. L. D. Benson (1969) misapplied the epithet neomexicanus to E. dasyacanthus. In Big Bend National Park, a few populations with unusually short spines are the basis for erroneous reports of E. pectinatus var. wenigeri, E. pectinatus var. pectinatus, and E. ctenoides (Engelmann) Lemaire. Reports from Arizona were apparently misidentifications of E. pseudopectinatus.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Of conservation concern.

Echinocereus fobeanus Oehme, of Mexico, sometimes has been considered a variety of E. chisosensis. Both species seem to be relicts and rare.

Echinocereus chisosensis is in the Center for Plant Conservation’s Collection of Endangered Plants.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 4. FNA vol. 4.
Parent taxa Cactaceae > subfam. Cactoideae > Echinocereus Cactaceae > subfam. Cactoideae > Echinocereus
Sibling taxa
E. arizonicus, E. berlandieri, E. bonkerae, E. chisosensis, E. coccineus, E. davisii, E. engelmannii, E. enneacanthus, E. fasciculatus, E. fendleri, E. ledingii, E. nicholii, E. papillosus, E. pectinatus, E. pentalophus, E. poselgeri, E. pseudopectinatus, E. reichenbachii, E. rigidissimus, E. stramineus, E. triglochidiatus, E. viridiflorus
E. arizonicus, E. berlandieri, E. bonkerae, E. coccineus, E. dasyacanthus, E. davisii, E. engelmannii, E. enneacanthus, E. fasciculatus, E. fendleri, E. ledingii, E. nicholii, E. papillosus, E. pectinatus, E. pentalophus, E. poselgeri, E. pseudopectinatus, E. reichenbachii, E. rigidissimus, E. stramineus, E. triglochidiatus, E. viridiflorus
Synonyms E. pectinatus var. dasyacanthus E. reichenbachii var. chisosensis
Name authority Engelmann: in F. A. Wislizenus, Mem. Tour N. Mexico, 100. (1848) W. T. Marshall: Cact. Succ. J. (Los Angeles) 12: 15, cover, plate 1. (1940)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Fabaceae, Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

Choose a data source: Flora of North America

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers