Echinocereus fasciculatus – Pinkflower Hedgehog Cactus

Echinocereus fasciculatus - Pinkflower Hedgehog Cactus

Echinocereus fasciculatus - Pinkflower Hedgehog Cactus

Plant Name

Scientific Name: Echinocereus fasciculatus

Synonym: Echinocereus fendleri var. fasciculatus

Common Name: Pinkflower Hedgehog Cactus

Plant Characteristics

Duration: Perennial

Growth Habit: Shrub, Cactus

Arizona Native Status: Native

Habitat: Desert, Upland

Flower Color: Brilliant magenta pink

Flowering Season: Spring

Height: Up to 20 inches (51 cm) tall

Description: The 3 inch (7.6 cm) wide flowers have darker centers and green stigmas. The fruits are red and fleshy. Ground squirrels and other rodents will eat the ripe fruit. The stems are covered in sharp, variably colored spines. The central spine is the longest and is at right angles to the stem and surrounded by shorter radial spines. The central spines are dark brown at the stem tips.

The similar Engelmann's Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii) has 2 to 6 central spines per areole, while this cactus has only 1 central spine per areole.

Special Characteristics

Legal StatusProtected 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: Echinocereus Engelm. – hedgehog cactus
Species: Echinocereus fasciculatus (Engelm. ex B.D. Jacks.) L.D. Benson – pinkflower hedgehog cactus

More About This Plant

Arizona County Distribution Map