Plant Name
Scientific Name: Escobaria vivipara
Synonym: Coryphantha vivipara
Common Names: Spinystar, Beehive Cactus
Plant Characteristics
Duration: Perennial
Growth Habit: Shrub, Cactus
Arizona Native Status: Native
Habitat: Upland, Mountain
Flower Color: Pink to magenta, Yellow, Green
Flowering Season: Spring (late), Summer
Height: To 8 inches (20 cm) tall
Description: The showy flowers are up to 2 1/2 inches (6.4 cm) across and have yellow anthers, a white to magenta stigma with 5 to 13 lobes, and numerous point-tipped tepals. At each areole, the stems have both white radial spines and projecting, straight, brown-tipped central spines.
Special Characteristics
Legal Status – Protected Native Plant (Salvage Restricted)
Classification
Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Caryophyllidae
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Cactaceae – Cactus family
Genus: Escobaria Britton & Rose – foxtail cactus
Species: Escobaria vivipara (Nutt.) Buxbaum – spinystar
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