Echinocereus rigidissimus |
Echinocereus pseudopectinatus |
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Arizona rainbow cactus, rainbow hedgehog cactus |
devilthorn |
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Habit | Plants unbranched (rarely few branched). | |
Stems | erect, short cylindric, to 20 × 4–6 cm; ribs 13–19, crests slightly undulate; areoles 4–8 mm apart. |
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Spines | 13–17 per areole, stiff and straight, white, pink, or gray, becoming gray with dark tips; radial spines 12–17 per areole, appressed to spreading, 2–12 mm; central spines (0–)1–4 per areole, projecting, 1–4 mm. |
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Flowers | 5–8 × 7–10 cm; flower tube 15–25 × 8–20 mm; flower tube hairs 3–5 mm; inner tepals purplish pink, darker proximal portion and midstripes, 35–45 × 10–22 mm, tips relatively thin and delicate; anthers dark yellow; nectar chamber to 3 mm. |
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Fruits | dark green, brownish tinged, 15–23 mm, pulp white. |
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Echinocereus rigidissimus |
Echinocereus pseudopectinatus |
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Phenology | Flowering times not well known; fruiting 2 months after flowering. | |
Habitat | Chihuahuan Desert, desert scrub, mostly semidesert grasslands, rocky slopes, mostly igneous substrates | |
Elevation | 1200-1400 m (3900-4600 ft) | |
Distribution |
AZ; NM; Mexico
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AZ; Mexico (Sonora) |
Discussion | Varieties 2 (1 in the flora). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Misidentifications of Echinocereus pseudopectinatus were the basis for Arizona reports of E. pectinatus and E. dasyacanthus, which belong to an unrelated species group from the Chihuahuan Desert. Formerly, E. pseudopectinatus was considered conspecific with E. bristolii W. T. Marshall, a closely related endemic species of Sonora, Mexico. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 4. | FNA vol. 4. |
Parent taxa | Cactaceae > subfam. Cactoideae > Echinocereus | Cactaceae > subfam. Cactoideae > Echinocereus |
Sibling taxa | ||
Subordinate taxa | ||
Synonyms | Cereus pectinatus var. rigidissimus, E. pectinatus var. rigidissimus | E. bristolii var. pseudopectinatus, E. scopulorum subsp. pseudopectinatus |
Name authority | (Engelmann) F. Haage: Special Preisverz., 13. (1897) | (N. P. Taylor) N. P. Taylor: Bradleya 7: 74. (1989) |
Web links |