Echinocereus fasciculatus
Echinocereus arizonicus
pinkflower hedgehog cactus
Arizona claret-cup cactus, Arizona hedgehog cactus
mostly erect, cylindric, (5–)10–40 × 4.5–8 cm;
ribs 10–15, crests slightly undulate;
areoles 10–15 mm apart.
usually erect, cylindric, 10–40 × 5–10 cm;
ribs 8–13, slightly undulate;
areoles 10–15 mm apart.
8–16 per areole, usually straight, individual spines with broad zones of different colors: yellowish, reddish brown, or gray to black, or white to black, becoming gray;
radial spines 7–15 per areole, 5–15 mm;
central spines 1–3 per areole, divergent-porrect, 15–75 mm, all terete.
[8–]9–18 per areole, straight or contorted;
radial spines 7–14 per areole, appressed, yellowish to brownish, becoming gray, 5–25 mm;
central spines 1–4 (c Arizona and Mexico) or 3–8 (elsewhere) per areole, spreading to projecting outward, brownish yellow to reddish black, becoming gray, terete (c Arizona) or angled to terete (elsewhere), 15–50 mm.
6–10 × 8–10 cm;
flower tube 10–20 × 15–40 mm;
flower tube hairs 2.3–4 mm;
inner tepals rose-pink to magenta [rarely nearly white], with midstripes darker, darker magenta or sometimes purplish maroon near base, (20–)35–52 × 12–20 mm, tips relatively thin and delicate;
anthers yellow;
nectar chamber 3.3–5 mm.
5.5–7 × 3.5–5 cm;
flower tube 25–35 mm;
flower tube spines 5–15 mm, hairs to 2 mm;
inner tepals bright orange-red to dark red distally, proximally paler (bases sometimes yellow or whitish), 25–40 × (5–)10–15 mm, tips thick and rigid;
anthers pink to brick red or purple;
nectar chamber 6–10 mm.
bright red or orange-red, 20–30 mm, pulp white or sometimes pink.
green, brownish tinged, 20–30 mm, pulp white.
= 44.
= 22.
Echinocereus fasciculatus
Echinocereus arizonicus
New Mexico records of Echinocereus fasciculatus are at least in part based on vigorous old plants of E. fendleri, which sometimes have 1–2 short supplementary central spines (and which appear very different from younger plants in the same populations). Echinocereus fasciculatus may prove to intergrade clinally with E. engelmannii var. acicularis wherever their geographic ranges approach each other. At its upper altitudinal limit, E. fasciculatus tends to have shorter spines, fewer central spines, shorter stems, and more compact growth habit.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Some populations of diploid claret-cup cacti in southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico have recently been named Echinocereus arizonicus subsp. nigrihorridispinus W. Blum & Rutow, including numerous eastern populations previously misidentified as other taxa. Subspecies arizonicus, of conservation concern, remains known only from central Arizona. Infraspecific taxa within E. arizonicus are not treated formally here because their taxonomic boundaries remain controversial.
Echinocereus arizonicus superficially resembles the dioecious tetraploid E. coccineus var. rosei of the Chihuahuan Desert, and several of its populations were mapped by L. D. Benson (1969, 1982) as part of E. triglochidatus var. neomexicanus (Standley) Standley ex W. T. Marshall. Echinocereus arizonicus subsp. nigrihorridispinus superficially resembles the partially sympatric, synoecious tetraploid recently named E. santaritensis W. Blum & Rutow (a hermaphroditic geographic race of E. coccineus), which has much longer hairs on the flowers, a narrower flower tube, and relatively slender spines. Irrespective of the misleading vegetative similarities between diploid E. arizonicus and its polyploid relatives, E. arizonicus differs strongly from both varieties of the diploid E. triglochidiatus.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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