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Mexican comb hedgehog, rainbow cactus

Berlandier's hedgehog cactus

Habit Plants branched, sprawling, clones to 3 m or more wide.
Stems

soon decumbent, cylindric, (10–)20–36 × 1.5–3 cm;

ribs 5–7, crests undulate;

areoles 10–15 mm apart.

Spines

9–10 per areole, straight, stiff, white, tipped dark;

radial spines 6–9 per areole, appressed-spreading, to 10 mm;

central spines 1–3 per areole, projecting outward, to 30 mm.

Flowers

5–6 × 0.2–4.8 cm;

flower tube 10–20 × 10–30 mm;

flower tube hairs short, inconspicuous;

inner tepals purplish pink or magenta, often with darker midstripes and/or proximal region, 40 × 18 mm, tips relatively thin and delicate;

anthers yellow;

nectar chamber 4–6 mm.

Fruits

olive green to 25 mm, pulp white or colorless.

2n

= 22.

Echinocereus pectinatus

Echinocereus berlandieri

Phenology Flowering May–Jun; fruiting 2-3 months after flowering.
Habitat Shady thickets, coastal plain
Elevation 0-100[-600] m (0-300[-2000] ft)
Distribution
from FNA
TX; n Mexico
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
TX; Mexico (Tamaulipas)
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Varieties 2 (1 in the flora).

At least in the United States, Echinocereus pectinatus (diploid) has only pink or purple flowers, unlike the polymorphic species E. dasyacanthus (tetraploid). Echinocereus pectinatus differs from the entire E. reichenbachii species group in that the areoles of its relatively thick-walled flower tube have stouter spines and much shorter hairs. Superficially similar species west of the Continental Divide, formerly associated with E. pectinatus (E. pseudopectinatus, E. rigidissimus, and some Sonoran species), are more closely related to the E. reichenbachii species group with densely bristly flower buds and delicate, ephemeral inner tepals. Echinocereus pectinatus var. pectinatus is endemic to Mexico; reports from the United States were misidentifications of var. wenigeri, E. pseudopectinatus (in Arizona), and unusually short-spined plants of E. dasyacanthus.

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

Echinocereus berlandieri was originally discovered along the Nueces River, presumably the mouth of the river near Corpus Christi, and has not been seen there since. It has been rarely documented also from the lower Rio Grande Valley. Published records from elsewhere are all based on misidentified material of E. pentalophus, E. papillosus, E. enneacanthus var. brevispinus, and (in Mexico) E. cinerascens (de Candolle) Haage var. tulensis (Bravo) N. P. Taylor. Like E. pentalophus from the same region, E. berlandieri has often been misidentified as E. blanckii (Poselger) Palmer, a Mexican species. Furthermore, D. Weniger (1970) misapplied the name E. berlandieri to part of the common and variable E. pentalophus.

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

Source FNA vol. 4. FNA vol. 4, p. 171.
Parent taxa Cactaceae > subfam. Cactoideae > Echinocereus Cactaceae > subfam. Cactoideae > Echinocereus
Sibling taxa
E. arizonicus, E. berlandieri, E. bonkerae, E. chisosensis, E. coccineus, E. dasyacanthus, E. davisii, E. engelmannii, E. enneacanthus, E. fasciculatus, E. fendleri, E. ledingii, E. nicholii, E. papillosus, E. pentalophus, E. poselgeri, E. pseudopectinatus, E. reichenbachii, E. rigidissimus, E. stramineus, E. triglochidiatus, E. viridiflorus
E. arizonicus, E. bonkerae, E. chisosensis, 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
Subordinate taxa
E. pectinatus var. wenigeri
Synonyms Echinocactus pectinatus Cereus berlandieri
Name authority (Scheidweiler) Engelmann: in F. A. Wislizenus, Mem. Tour N. Mexico, 109. (1848) (Engelmann) Haage: Cact.-Verz., 19. (1859)
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