Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii)

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This page last updated on 03/30/2018

(Fig. 01)

Picture Notes:  The picture in (Fig. 01) was taken along a hike in the Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument. Because it is still somewhat winter, they are all brown and pretty much dried out. Come spring and summer they will turn green and can actually begin to flower similar to that shown in (Fig. 02). For more on this hike and location go to ...  Tufa Beds Trails (TUSK) - Trip Notes for 03/28/2018.

Description:  The Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii), a.k.a. Claret Cup, Mojave Mound Cactus, Kingcup Cactus, Strawberry Hedgehog Cactus, and mound cactus, usually is a mound-shaped plant to about 1-1/2-feet tall and composed of several, stout, upright stems to about 3 feet in diameter. Stems rarely solitary. Its stem surface are ribbed, without tubercles. The spines are about 3-inches long, spreading, usually more or less straight, flat; usually reddish-brown with white margin; radial spines 6-14. The flowers bloom late spring to early summer. A solitary flower emerges from the side of the stem near the top and is funnel-shaped, reddish-purple to magenta, 2 to 3-inches diameter; anthers yellow. Engelmann's Hedgehog Cactus is a fairly common component of vegetation communities on gravelly and rocky soils along washes, rocky ridges, and upper bajadas and moderate slopes into the lower mountains in the Lower Sonoran life zones.
                             

(Fig. 02)