Xerophyte

Central Spines

4-9 per areole, present at all ages, spreading straight or slightly curving, never hooked, 27-41 long.

Seeds

Papillate, finely reticulate-pitted, broader then long.

Description

Echinomastus johnsoniiSN|14880]]SN|14880]] is a small “barrel cacti” almost completely hidden by the interlocking spines. Usually solitary (or occasionally branching after injury to the apical bud). This plant varies geographically in both flower and spine colour.

Note

The yellow-flowered plants have been named E. johnsonii var. lutescens. The pink-flowered plants occur in separate populations, as far as is known, to the north of the yellow-flowered plants.

Flowers

Funnel form 4-6 cm long, 4-7,5 cm in diameter; inner tepals yellow or pink to magenta with a silvery sheen, basal portions blotched with maroon . Scale of the ovary obtuse, membranous on margins.Stigma lobes yellowish white to green.

Blooming Season

Flowering (Feb-)Mar-May; fruiting Apr-Jun.

Ribs

(13-)18-21, narrow, undulate, strongly indented just above each tubercle and rising gradually to the next. Tubercles protruding approx 5-8 mm.

Stem

Ovoid to ellipsoid-cylindroid, 10-25 cm long, 7-15 cm in diameter. Apex more or less devoid of spines, but with a heavily felted-over circular patch 1-1,5 cm in diameter at the apex.

Radial Spines

9-16 per areole, stouter, more or less bulbous at the base, divaricately spreading; abaxial (shortest) radial spine 6-19 mm; adaxial and lateral (longest) radial spines ca. 27-40 mm (often lighter in colour)

Fruits

Green drying to tan, nearly naked, dehiscent only along single, longitudinal split, spheric to oblong, 10-18 mm.

Areoles

(14-)21-26 mm apart along ribs with a short, narrow woolly groove running from the upper margin of the areole to the axil of the tubercle, areolar glands present at least seasonally. Spines 13-24 per areole, spreading, often intricately intertangled, acicular, greysh to pale yellow, tinged in pink-reddish, lavender to maroon and often blackening in age.