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This page last updated on 09/03/2017
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| (Fig. 01) |
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Picture Notes: I found this Mojave Kingcup Cactus (Figs. 01 & 02) on 06/05/2013 at the very top of Wheeler Pass. Though it appeared a little weathered, it was somewhat hidden, and protected, growing between a large rock and some nearby shrubs. Click this link to learn more about this outing … Daytrip - Wheeler Pass via Pahrump. The next time I found one of these blooming cactus (Figs. 03 &04) was on the Fletcher Canyon Trail inside the Mount Charleston Wilderness Area on 06/14/2017. Click this link to learn more about this hike ... Fletcher Canyon Trail Hike.
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| (Fig. 02) |
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| (Fig. 03) |
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| (Fig. 04) |
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Description: Mojave Kingcup Cactus (Echinocereus mojavensis), a.k.a. Mojave Claret Cup Cactus, (Echinocereus triglochidiatus) and Mojave Hedgehog, is mound-shaped plant formed of many, densely packed stems that grows to a height of 12-16 inches. It is densely covered with gray, twisted and interlocking spines. The entire plant is a cylindrical mound, without a trunk, that is composed of up to about 500 individual bluish green stems, each usually less than about 2 inches diameter. The surface of the stems are ribbed, containing about 10 ribs per stem. Its has gray, round, curved (wavy) spines that grow to about 2 inches in length. Its twisting spines often interlock with those of neighboring stems to form a dense web of spines covering the entire mound. The spines are round rather than angled.
Habitat: Creosote Bush Scrub, Joshua Tree Woodland, Pinyon-Juniper Woodland. The plants grow in gravelly soils in grasslands, shrub-lands, pinyon/juniper, or aspen communities. The plants often grow against a rocky outcrop or within the rocky outcrop. Kingcup Cactus is a fairly common component of desert vegetation found on well-drained gravelly and rocky soils on upper bajadas and slopes into the mountains in the Upper Sonoran life zones: (Pinyon-Juniper Woodlands), Transition (Yellow Pine Forests), and Canadian (Pine-Fir Forests). They are fairly common in the Pinyon-Juniper woodlands on Mt. Charleston and in the Mojave National Preserve. So they can occasionally be found as low as 500 feet in elevation, they can be found as high as 9,000 feet in elevation.
Flowering: Early for most cactus, it blooms between early to mid spring (Apr-Jun). Its inflorescence consists of solitary flowers that emerge from near the tip of individual stems. The flowers are a funnel-shaped; orange to deep red, and about 3-1/2-inches diameter (Fig. 04). It produces a cylindrical reddish fruit, about 1-inch long, 1/2-inch diameter. The flowers are pollinated by hummingbirds. Hummingbirds are the primary pollinators and must stick their entire head into the flower to reach the nectar chambers at the flower's base. In the process, the hummingbird's forehead gets dusted with pollen. (Sometimes they look like another species of hummingbird!) The flowers stay open at night, unlike many other species of cacti whose flowers close in the evening. The flowers last three to five days.
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