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