Echinocereus fasciculatus
Echinocereus triglochidiatus
pinkflower hedgehog cactus
claret-cup cactus, claretcup, kingcup cactus, Mojave mound cactus
mostly erect, cylindric, (5–)10–40 × 4.5–8 cm;
ribs 10–15, crests slightly undulate;
areoles 10–15 mm apart.
usually erect or nearly so, cylindric (spheric), (2–)5–70 × (3–)5–13 cm;
ribs 5–8 or 8–12, crests slightly undulate (localized populations contain plants with strongly interrupted ribs);
areoles 10–40 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.
(0–)3–11 per areole, straight to curved or contorted, appressed (radial spines) or spreading to projecting outward (some radials and central spines when present), white to yellow, gray, or black;
radial spines (0–)1–10 per areole, (0–)15–90 mm;
central spines 0–1(–4) per areole, angular, (0–)50–120 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.
(4–)5–10 × 3–7 cm;
flower tube 20–35 mm;
flower tube hairs 1–2 mm;
inner tepals bright orange-red to dark red, proximally paler (bases sometimes yellow or white), (18–)25–40 × (5–)10–15 mm, tips thick and rigid;
anthers usually pink to purple;
nectar chamber 5–11 mm.
bright red or orange-red, 20–30 mm, pulp white or sometimes pink.
green to yellow-green or pink (rarely red), (15–)20–35 mm, pulp white.
= 44.
= 22.
Echinocereus fasciculatus
Echinocereus triglochidiatus
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.)
Echinocereus triglochidiatus is the earliest name for a large group of diploid and polyploid taxa treated as conspecific by L. D. Benson (1969, 1982). The tetraploids are now recognized separately as E. coccineus, including E. polyacanthus Engelmann of Mexico. The diploids in the flora area are here divided into two allopatric species: E. triglochidiatus and E. arizonicus.
Plants in the western portion of the range of Echinocereus triglochidiatus have been called E. triglochidiatus var. mojavensis (Engelmann & J. M. Bigelow) L. D. Benson. That taxon includes curly-spined plants (mainly in California) and straight-spined plants (including most populations in Arizona, Utah, and western Colorado). The latter were mapped by L. D. Benson (1969, 1982) as part of his concept of E. triglochidiatus var. melanacanthus. Plants with the fewest and largest spines, called E. triglochidiatus var. triglochidiatus, occupy the eastern portion of the species’ distribution. The largest spines, whether central or radial, of var. triglochidiatus are sharply angular in cross section and 1–2 mm thick.
Less distinctive plants have been called Echinocereus triglochidiatus var. gonacanthus, a name carelessly applied to miscellaneous plants throughout the range of var. triglochidiatus. A well-known population at White Sands, New Mexico, inhabits saline flats adjacent to pure gypsum dunes. The unusually large, southernmost plants at White Sands, New Mexico, shrink to the same size as northern plants when grown together in a common garden (D. Weniger 1970). The epithet inermis has been applied at various taxonomic ranks to individual plants with spines absent or nearly so in the eastern portion of var. mojavensis (in and around southeastern Utah).
A geographically distant tetraploid, Echinocereus coccineus var. paucispinus, superficially resembles some eastern E. triglochidiatus but may be distinguished by its relatively terete and more consistently straight spines. Small plants of var. triglochidiatus without reproductive structures might be confused with E. fendleri; records of E. triglochidatus from near the Mexican border probably are misidentifications of E. fendleri in vegetative condition.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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