Echinocereus dasyacanthus
Echinocereus viridiflorus
spiny hedgehog cactus, Texas rainbow cactus
green pitaya, nylon hedgehog cactus, small-flower h edgehog cactus
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, 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.
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.
(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.
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.
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.
dark dull purplish to maroon (sometimes remaining green), 2–3.5 cm, pulp white to purplish pink.
yellowish green to dark green, dark purple, or reddish tinged, 6–17 mm, pulp white.
= 44.
= 22.
Echinocereus dasyacanthus
Echinocereus viridiflorus
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.)
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.)
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