Xerophyte

Habit

It is a formidably spined and free clumping columnar cactus, 6-25-branched, ultimately forming somewhat open clumps of stems.

Central Spines

5-6 Divergent-porrect, very stout, and rigid, straight or curving and somewhat twisted, terete or somewhat flattened, up to 7 cm long, brownish-purple (bright purple when young).

Seeds

Black nearly globular, or a little oblique, 1,5 mm in diameter or less, tuberculate.

Description

Echinocereus engelmannii var. purpureus commonly known as the “purple-spined hedgehog cactus” is simply a dark-colored, short-spined morphological form that occurs sporadically interspersed throughout populations of Echinocereus engelmannii var. chrysocentrus. The two types of plants cross-pollinate readily in nature and represent only the variability within a multiform population rather than two distinct taxonomic groups. However Echinocereus engelmannii var. chrysocentrus shows many morphological variation within its range and Echinocereus engelmannii var. purpureus doesn’t exhibit any independent population integrity and cannot be defended as a distinct species, subspecies, or taxonomic variety.

Flowers

Purple, 5-8 cm long and even broader when fully expanded. Flower tube hairy, scales on ovary 3-5 mm long acuminate. Perianth segments oblong, 3-4 cm long, acunimate.

Blooming Season

Spring, flowers are diurnal close at night and reopen in the morning and last for about five days.

Ribs

11 to 14 low, obtuse, tubercles indistinct, crests slightly undulate.

Stem

Suberect, erect or ascending light green, cylindric or somewhat tapering distally, (10-)15-20(-309 cm tall, and about 5-6 cm in diameter, branching freely from the base.

Radial Spines

About 10, appressed, stiff, lighter whitish to creamy coloured 8-20 mm long long, spreading.

Fruits

Spheric, obovoid or ovoid, spiny, red or orangish about 3 cm long, fleshy, pulp whitish becoming infused with pink or red from the skin. The fruit is edible, it is said to taste like strawberry.

Areoles

Large, nearly circular, 6-15 mm apart, with few stout bristles, wool present in first year only.