Echinocactus hexaedrophorus
Cact. Gen. Sp. Nov. 27. 1839
Family
Cactaceae
Genus
Species
Echinocactus hexaedrophorus
Author
Lem.
Chinese genus
金琥属
Chinese name
-
Primary
Accepted
DescriptionEdit description
Central Spines
Almost always absent or sometime 1(-3), erect, much stouter than the radials, 15-18(-30) mm long, ochre, pinkish-grey, reddish, purplish, brow to whitish acicular to subulate.
Seeds
1,5-2 mm long and 1,2-1,5 broad, with testa reticulate, divided into polygonal or square areas.
Description
Thelocactus hexaedrophorusSN|10830]]SN|10830]] is a solitary and quite variable cactus with flattened stems. Many local forms are known, often formally described, that differ in stem, spine or flower morphology. Because of the large variability of the species in the whole distribution area, none of these are recognised today.
Tubercles
Fat, prominent, polygonal-rounded (hexagonal or pentagonal based), arranged in indefinite spirals, not flattened laterally, sometime compressed at the tip, 8-20 mm long, 13-27 mm large.
Flowers
Silvery-white or rarely pinkish with more or less magenta midribs, 4,5-5,5(-10) in diameter, broader than long when expanded . Tube very short. Pericarpel covered with scales. Perianth-segments oblong, purplish; stigma-lobes yellowish white.
Spines
Usually strong and variable in length depending on the clone often difficult to distinguish as centrals and radials.
Ribs
8-13 indistinct, but generally evident in adult plants.
Stem
Globose or somewhat flattened above or umbilicate, glaucous, olive-green, or greyish-green eventually tinged in pink or purple, 3-7,5 cm tall , 8-15(-20) in diameter (eventually grows a little taller in cultivation), strongly tubercled and not ribbed.
Radial Spines
4-6 (6-8 on subsp. lloydii), erect to spreading, unequal, (5-)11-18(-60) mm long, pure white, ochre, reddish to brown, rigid, straight or curved, acicular to subulate and annulate.
Fruits
Spherical, with scales, green magenta, 7-12 mm becoming dry at maturity dehiscing by basal pores.
Areoles
4-13 mm long, 12-28 mm apart, on top of the tubercles, elongated into a short groove, without nectar secreting glands.