Echinocactus texensis

Hopffer

Allg. Gartenzeitung 10: 297. 1842.

Common names: Horse-crippler devil’s-head manca caballo
Synonyms: Homalocephala texensis (Hopffer) Britton & Rose
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 4. Treatment on page 190. Mentioned on page 188, 189.

Plants unbranched (very rarely branched). Stems pale gray-green (desert populations) to grass green (eastern populations), aboveground portion flat-topped, hemispheric in old age but usually deep-seated, flush with soil surface, 10–30 × 10–30 cm; ribs 13–27, very prominent, straight, vertical, or sinuous on desiccated plants, crests ± sharp, without depressions between areoles but sometimes areoles recessed part-way into rib. Spines (6–) 7–8 per areole, mostly decurved or 1 porrect and straight, pale tan, pink, reddish to gray, terete to flattened, annulate, not hiding stem surfaces, minutely canescent with laterally compressed unicellular trichomes; radial spines (5–) 6–7 per areole; central spine 1 per areole, porrect or descending, straight or distally decurved, (20–) 40–60 (–80) × 1.5–4 (–8) mm. Flowers 5–6 × 5–6 cm; inner tepals bright-rose-pink to pale silvery-pink, proximally orange to red, (15–) 28–32 × (3–) 6 (–9) mm, margins usually erose; stigma lobes pink to pinkish white. Fruits indehiscent (rarely rupturing irregularly), scarlet or crimson, spheric to ovoid, 15–50 × 15–40 mm, fleshy, surfaces not hidden by widely spaced hairs in axils of scales; scales 13–21, distal scales spine-tipped, minutely puberulent. Seeds black, spheric-reniform or irregularly obovoid, 2.5–3 mm, glossy; testa cells flat or very slightly convex. 2n = 22.


Phenology: Flowering late spring.
Habitat: Chihuahuan Desert, grasslands, openings in oak woodlands, Tamaulipan thorn scrub, deep soils, saline flats, low limestone hills
Elevation: 0-1400 m

Distribution

V4 358-distribution-map.gif

N.Mex., Tex., Mexico (Coahuila), Mexico (Durango), Mexico (Nuevo León), Mexico (Tamaulipas)

Discussion

The western, desert populations of Echinocactus texensis, unlike the eastern plants, have longer central spines that project stiffly outward and can flatten off-road vehicle tires or seriously injure a large mammal stepping on them. A dense cover of ephemeral herbs or shallow blanket of snow can hide this species completely from view.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.
... more about "Echinocactus texensis"
deep-seated +
cushionlike +
confluent +  and spaced +
circular to linear +
deciduous +  and persistent +
nearly circular +  and oblong +
Allan D. Zimmerman +  and Bruce D. Parfitt +
Hopffer +
hardened +
triangular +
6 cm60 mm <br />0.06 m <br /> (8 cm80 mm <br />0.08 m <br />) +
0.4 cm4 mm <br />0.004 m <br /> (0.8 cm8 mm <br />0.008 m <br />) +
40mm +  and 60mm +
decurved +, descending +  and porrect +
ridged +, flattened +  and terete +
0.15 cm1.5 mm <br />0.0015 m <br /> (0.4 cm4 mm <br />0.004 m <br />) +
proliferating +
flattened +  and cylindric +
Horse-crippler +, devil’s-head +  and manca caballo +
not mucilaginous +
N.Mex. +, Tex. +, Mexico (Coahuila) +, Mexico (Durango) +, Mexico (Nuevo León) +  and Mexico (Tamaulipas) +
0-1400 m +
not separating +
5 cm50 mm <br />0.05 m <br /> (6 cm60 mm <br />0.06 m <br />) +
salverform +
15 cm150 mm <br />0.15 m <br /> (30 cm300 mm <br />0.3 m <br />) +
0.2 cm2 mm <br />0.002 m <br /> (15 cm150 mm <br />0.15 m <br />) +
5 cm50 mm <br />0.05 m <br /> (6 cm60 mm <br />0.06 m <br />) +
4 cm40 mm <br />0.04 m <br /> (10 cm100 mm <br />0.1 m <br />) +
crimson;scarlet +
indehiscent +
persistent +, long +  and deciduous +
1.5 cm15 mm <br />0.015 m <br /> (5 cm50 mm <br />0.05 m <br />) +
spheric +  and ovoid +
1.5 cm15 mm <br />0.015 m <br /> (4 cm40 mm <br />0.04 m <br />) +
Chihuahuan Desert, grasslands, openings in oak woodlands, Tamaulipan thorn scrub, deep soils, saline flats, low limestone hills +
pale tan +  and white +
1.5 cm15 mm <br />0.015 m <br /> (2.8 cm28 mm <br />0.028 m <br />) +
0.6 cm6 mm <br />0.006 m <br /> (0.9 cm9 mm <br />0.009 m <br />) +
2.8 cm28 mm <br />0.028 m <br /> (3.2 cm32 mm <br />0.032 m <br />) +
deciduous +  and persistent +
rudimentary +
flat +  and terete +
nearly +  and microscopic +
0 cm0 mm <br />0 m <br /> (0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br />) +
tuberculate +
fluted;spheric;depressed-spheric or club-shaped +
spine-tipped +, serrate +  and entire +
fimbriate +, entire +  and toothed +
deciduous +  and persistent +
Flowering late spring. +
not mucilaginous +
desiccated +
dehiscent +, , +, rupturing +  and indehiscent +
abscission +
10 cm100 mm <br />0.1 m <br /> (30 cm300 mm <br />0.3 m <br />) +
aboveground +
hemispheric +  and flat-topped +
10 cm100 mm <br />0.1 m <br /> (30 cm300 mm <br />0.3 m <br />) +
ridgelike +  and nipple--shaped +
Allg. Gartenzeitung +
sinuous +  and straight +
constricted +
prominent +
broadly rounded +  and nearly keeled +
13 +  and 21 +
triangular +
arillate +  and strophiolate +
0.4mm;12mm +
obovoid;spheric-reniform +
0.25 cm2.5 mm <br />0.0025 m <br /> (0.3 cm3 mm <br />0.003 m <br />) +
reddish +  and gray +
straight +
deciduous +  and persistent +
porrect +  and decurved +
6 (?) +  and 7 (?) +
terete +  and flattened +
2 cm20 mm <br />0.02 m <br /> (5 cm50 mm <br />0.05 m <br />) +
decurrent +
unsegmented +
30 cm300 mm <br />0.3 m <br /> (80 cm800 mm <br />0.8 m <br />) +
pale gray-green +  and grass green +
4 cm40 mm <br />0.04 m <br /> (40 cm400 mm <br />0.4 m <br />) +
spheric +  and short cylindric +
succulent +
8cm;30cm +
pink +  and pinkish white +
0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br /> (0.45 cm4.5 mm <br />0.0045 m <br />) +
tuberculate +
Homalocephala texensis +
adventitious +
tuberlike +
epipetric +  and epiphytic +
Echinocactus texensis +
Echinocactus +
species +
dull +  and glossy +
compressed +
epiphytic;epiphytic;epiphytic +
not deep-seated +
barrel-shaped +  and spheric +