Echinocereus brandegeei
Gesamtbeschr. Kakt. 290. 1898 as Brandegeei
Family
Cactaceae
Genus
Species
Echinocereus brandegeei
Author
(J.M.Coult.) K.Schum.
Chinese genus
鹿角柱属
Chinese name
-
DescriptionEdit description
Central Spines
Usually 4, forming a cross, very much stouter, strongly angled, more or less flattened, stiff, swordlike, erect or ported, the lowest one decidedly so, sometimes 8 cm long.
Seeds
black, tuberculately roughened.
Description
Echinocereus brandegeeiSN|7505]]SN|7505]] is a variable cactus. The stems always grow in clusters, which vary from a few stems to great loose mounds more than 2 m across and less than 35 cm tall. The spines are even more variable. In some localities this fiercely armed species grows among devil's club cholla (Opuntia invictaSN|9875]]SN|9875]]), the spines tend to be the shortest and stoutest and the two species look remarkably one to to each other. This may be a case of convergent evolution. The adaptive value of this convergence, if any, is unknown.
Roots
diffuse
Tubercles
Hexagonal in shape.
Flowers
Borne from the stem tips to the bases, bight pink to purplish with deep red petal bases, broadly funnelform, about 5,5-9,5 cm long and up to 4,5-8,5 cm across; areoles on ovary and tube closely set, filled with pale acicular spines and long white wool. Outer perianth magenta or light magenta and dark magenta with reddish midstripe, inner perianth magenta or light magenta with magenta midstripe and red at base. Stigma lobe number 6-9, yellow or yellow with faint greenish tint, not green.
Spines
Extremely variable, ranging from long and thin to short and stout, and yellow, reddish, brown, black, or whitish at first often tinged with red, in age dark grey.
Ribs
8-10, indistinct, almost entirely superseded by tubercles.
Stem
Highly variable in different populations, ranging from short and erect to long and sprawling but erect at the tip. Joints, light green, greenish-grey or dull green, covered with spines, cylindrical usually much narrowed toward the base, 20-35 cm long (sometimes one meter long or more) and 4-6 (or more) cm in diameter.
Fruits
Globular, red 3 cm. in diameter, spiny.
Note
A form of Echinocereus brandegeeiSN|7505]]SN|7505]] has been sold as Mammillaria halei in recent years but the latter should be recognisable because one of the differences is that the central spines are faintly tipped brown.
Blooming Season
Echinocereus brandegeeiSN|7505]]SN|7505]] doesn’t follow the usual habit of the genus of flowering in spring. It blooms from late July into September. Flowers are seldom seen in cultivation.
Radial Spines
10-18, spreading, acicular, stiff, round, to 2 cm long.
Areoles
Circular roundish, white to greyish.