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| Picture Notes: I found this cactus while hiking the area above Rainbow Spring off of Lovell Canyon Road. Check here for more information on the area … Daytrip - Rainbow Spring Road. |
| Description: Mojave Mound Cactus (Echinocereus triglochidiatus), a small barrel-shaped cactus and active perennial succulent, is a species of hedgehog cactus a.k.a Kingcup Cactus, Claretcup, Hedgehog and Claret Hedgehog. When its many stems are in full flower, making breathtaking mounds of scarlet, it can be one of the most beautiful cacti in the desert. In general it is a mounding cactus, forming bulbous piles of few to hundreds of spherical to cylindrical stems. It is densely spiny and somewhat woolly. There are a number of varieties of this highly variable cactus species, often with two strikingly different forms growing in the same area, but not all are universally recognized. It can contain up to 300 stems in dense, woolly mound; each stem cylindrical or spherical, 2-12 inches tall or more, 1-6 inches diameter, with 5-12 ribs. It can grow to a height between 6-12 inches with a diameter to 48 inches. Blooming from April to June, depending on location and variety, the showy flower is a funnel or vase shaped bloom up to 8 or 9 centimeters wide and bright scarlet red to orange-red tepals. There is a thick nectar chamber and many thread-like pink stamens at the center of the corolla. The flowers are pollinated by hummingbirds. It produces a fruit that is a red oval berry, 0.5-1.5 inches with deciduous spines and is edible. This cactus is native to the southwestern United States from southeast California, east to southern Nevada and Utah, central Colorado, and west Texas, and into northern Mexico. It is most abundant in shady areas against a rocky outcrop or within the rocky outcrop (Fig. 02). It can be found in the upper edge of Mojave Desert, coniferous forests, creosote bush scrub, Joshua Tree woodland and Pinyon-Juniper woodland. It likes gravelly soils in grasslands, shrub lands, pinyon/juniper, or aspen communities at altitudes of 500-10,000 feet. Its range is Southeast California, east to southern Nevada and Utah, central Colorado, and west Texas, and into Mexico. |
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