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 pectinatus

Echinocereus nicholii

Mexican comb hedgehog, rainbow cactus

golden hedgehog cactus, Nichol's hedgehog cactus
Habit Plants 16–30-branched, forming clumps.
Stems

erect to ascending, cylindric or somewhat tapering distally, 20–30(–70) × (4–)6–9 cm;

ribs 10–13, crests slightly undulate;

areoles 15–25 mm apart.
Spines

13–16 per areole, usually straight, divergent-porrect, pale translucent yellow;

radial spines 8–12 per areole, 5–25 mm;

central spines 4–6(–8) per areole, 30–72 mm, abaxial central spine usually descending, paler than other central spines, often fading whitish, somewhat flattened.
Flowers

4–6 × 5–7 cm;

flower tube 18–25 × 12–30 mm;

flower tube hairs 1 mm;

inner tepals usually pale pink with midstripes slightly darker, proximal 1/3 greenish, 30–40 × 5–10 mm, tips relatively thin and delicate;

anthers yellow;

nectar chamber to 7 mm.
Fruits

green, becoming bronze where exposed to sun, 23–34 mm, pulp white.
2n

= 22.

Echinocereus pectinatus

Echinocereus nicholii
Phenology Flowering Mar–Apr; fruiting Jun.
Habitat Arizona Upland Subdivision of Sonoran Desert, exposed slopes, bajadas, hills, mountains, desert scrub, igneous and sedimentary substrates
Elevation 300-900 m (1000-3000 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
TX; n Mexico
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; Mexico (Sonora)
[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.)

Although it was initially considered a variety of Echinocereus engelmannii, E. nicholii differs in chromosome number and a suite of morphologic characteristics. With its non-erumpent flower buds, diploid chromosome number, relatively small and usually pale flowers, green fruits, and exclusively yellow spines, E. nicholii more closely resembles E. ledingii than E. engelmannii.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 4. FNA vol. 4, p. 167.
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. berlandieri, E. bonkerae, E. chisosensis, E. coccineus, E. dasyacanthus, E. davisii, E. engelmannii, E. enneacanthus, E. fasciculatus, E. fendleri, E. ledingii, 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 E. engelmannii var. nicholii
Name authority (Scheidweiler) Engelmann: in F. A. Wislizenus, Mem. Tour N. Mexico, 109. (1848) (L. D. Benson) B. D. Parfitt: Phytologia 63: 157. (1987)
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