Echinocereus viridiflorus

Engelmann in F. A. Wislizenus

in F. A. Wislizenus, Mem. Tour N. Mexico, 91. 1848.

Common names: Small-flowered h edgehog cactus nylon hedgehog cactus
Illustrated
Synonyms: Echinocereus chloranthus (Engelmann) Haage Echinocereus chloranthus var. cylindricus (Engelmann) N. P. Taylor Echinocereus chloranthus var. neocapillus D. Weniger Echinocereus viridiflorus var. cylindricus (Engelmann) Rümpler Echinocereus viridiflorus var. rhyolithensis W. Blume & Mich. Lange Echinocereus russanthus
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 4. Mentioned on page 171.
Revision as of 08:20, 30 July 2020 by imported>Volume Importer
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Plants unbranched or few branched (rarely forming clumps of 12+ branches). Stems erect, spheric to short cylindric, (3–) 8–30 (–35) × 2.8–9 cm; ribs 10–20, crests prominent, slightly to conspicuously undulate; areoles 3–12 mm apart. Spines (13–) 18–30 (–55) per areole, stiff (flexible) and straight (or slightly curved), sometimes pectinately arranged, red-and-white, red-and-yellow, yellow-and-white, whitish, yellowish, or purplish, tips often darker; radial spines 12–38 (–45) per areole, appressed to spreading, (2–) 4–18 mm; central spines 0–17 per areole, spreading to projecting, terete (subulate), 3–5–40 mm. Flowers 2–3.5 × (1–) 1.5–3 cm; flower tube (4–) 5–12 × 5–15 mm; flower tube hairs 1–2 mm; inner tepals shades of yellow or brown, frequently tending towards yellowish green or brick-red (rarely carmine in Davis Mountains populations), often with darker purplish maroon midstripes, 10–25 × 2–4 mm, tips relatively thin and delicate; anthers yellow; nectar chamber 1–2 [–3] mm. Fruits yellowish green to dark green, dark purple, or reddish tinged, 6–17 mm, pulp white. 2n = 22.


Phenology: Flowering Mar–Jun; fruiting 2 months after flowering.
Habitat: Chihuahuan Desert, desert scrub, semidesert grasslands, short-grass prairies, oak woodlands, on igneous or novaculite substrates, gravelly or silty alluvium, rarely on limestone
Elevation: 700-2700 m

Distribution

V4 324-distribution-map.gif

Colo., Kans., Nebr., N.Mex., Okla., S.Dak., Tex., Wyo., Mexico (Chihuahua), Mexico (Coahuila)

Discussion

A large number of infraspecific taxa have been recognized within Echinocereus viridiflorus, differing in various combinations of flower color, spine color, number and thickness of central spines, and other characters, including floral scent. Populations of E. viridiflorus with the most numerous central spines (five or more per areole), giving the plants a bristly appearance, are often considered a separate species, E. chloranthus. Wherever such taxa are sympatric they intergrade; all are freely interfertile in the greenhouse.

The common morphotype at middle altitudes in Texas and southeastern New Mexico has 0–2(–3) central spines and is called either Echinocereus viridiflorus var. cylindricus (Engelmann) Rümpler or E. chloranthus var. cylindricus (Engelmann) N. P. Taylor. Typical E. viridiflorus (var. viridiflorus), with small stems and relatively pure yellow flowers, extends from central New Mexico and the Texas Panhandle to South Dakota. One of the segregate taxa, Echinocereus chloranthus var. neocapillus D. Weniger, is remarkable for its softly hairy, not sharply spiny, seedlings. Populations of E. viridiflorus from Big Bend National Park, usually with reddish or russet flowers, have been named E. russanthus D. Weniger. Yellow-spined plants may occur at high altitudes. A poorly defined, yellow-spined population near Marathon, Texas, has been named E. viridflorus var. correllii L. D. Benson. Bristly red-spined plants from New Mexico have recently been segregated as E. chloranthus subsp. rhyolithensis W. Blum & Mich. Lange.

Echinocereus viridiflorus in the broad sense may prove paraphyletic with respect to E. davisii, but they are phenologically isolated, with E. davisii flowering earlier and thus appearing reproductively isolated in the wild.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.

"-40mm" is not declared as a valid unit of measurement for this property."thin" is not a number.

... more about "Echinocereus viridiflorus"
cushionlike +
circular to linear +
deciduous +  and persistent +
hourglass--shaped +
0.3 cm3 mm <br />0.003 m <br /> (1.2 cm12 mm <br />0.012 m <br />) +
Allan D. Zimmerman +  and Bruce D. Parfitt +
Engelmann in F. A. Wislizenus +
hardened +
triangular +
curved +  and straight +
spreading +  and projecting +
proliferating +
flattened +  and cylindric +
Small-flowered h edgehog cactus +  and nylon hedgehog cactus +
mucilaginous +
undulate +
Colo. +, Kans. +, Nebr. +, N.Mex. +, Okla. +, S.Dak. +, Tex. +, Wyo. +, Mexico (Chihuahua) +  and Mexico (Coahuila) +
700-2700 m +
not separating +
1 cm10 mm <br />0.01 m <br /> (1.5 cm15 mm <br />0.015 m <br />) +
2 cm20 mm <br />0.02 m <br /> (3.5 cm35 mm <br />0.035 m <br />) +
unisexual +  and bisexual +
0.4 cm4 mm <br />0.004 m <br /> (0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br />) +
2.6 cm26 mm <br />0.026 m <br /> (5 cm50 mm <br />0.05 m <br />) +
0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br /> (1.2 cm12 mm <br />0.012 m <br />) +
0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br /> (2.6 cm26 mm <br />0.026 m <br />) +
0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br /> (1.5 cm15 mm <br />0.015 m <br />) +
1.5 cm15 mm <br />0.015 m <br /> (3 cm30 mm <br />0.03 m <br />) +
yellowish green;dark green dark purple or reddish tinged +
dehiscent +  and indehiscent +
persistent +, long +  and deciduous +
spheric +  and narrowly obovoid +
0.6 cm6 mm <br />0.006 m <br /> (1.7 cm17 mm <br />0.017 m <br />) +
Chihuahuan Desert, desert scrub, semidesert grasslands, short-grass prairies, oak woodlands, on igneous or novaculite substrates, gravelly or silty alluvium, rarely on limestone +
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 +
brick-red +, yellowish green +, maroon +  and darker purplish +
0.2 cm2 mm <br />0.002 m <br /> (0.3 cm3 mm <br />0.003 m <br />) +
0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br /> (0.2 cm2 mm <br />0.002 m <br />) +
smooth +  and tuberculate +
deciduous +  and persistent +
Flowering Mar–Jun +  and fruiting 2 months after flowering. +
mucilaginous +
ridgelike +  and nipple--shaped +
in F. A. Wislizenus, Mem. Tour N. Mexico, +
triangular +
arillate +  and strophiolate +
dark reddish-brown +  and black +
0.4mm;12mm +
rugose +  and tuberculate +
spheric;obovoid +
0.08 cm0.8 mm <br />8.0e-4 m <br /> (0.2 cm2 mm <br />0.002 m <br />) +
tuberculate +
Illustrated +
radial +  and arranged +
0 cm0 mm <br />0 m <br /> (0.3 cm3 mm <br />0.003 m <br />) +
0.2 cm2 mm <br />0.002 m <br /> (0.4 cm4 mm <br />0.004 m <br />) +
purplish +, yellowish +, whitish +, yellow-and-white +, red-and-yellow +  and red-and-white +
straight +
deciduous +
3mm +  and 150mm +
appressed +  and spreading +
12 (?) +  and 38 (?) +
roughened +  and smooth +
acicular +  and subulate +
0.4 cm4 mm <br />0.004 m <br /> (1.8 cm18 mm <br />0.018 m <br />) +
0.01 cm0.1 mm <br />1.0e-4 m <br /> (0.25 cm2.5 mm <br />0.0025 m <br />) +
decurrent +
unsegmented +
0.6 cm6 mm <br />0.006 m <br /> (1 cm10 mm <br />0.01 m <br />) +
yellow-green +  and dark green +
8 cm80 mm <br />0.08 m <br /> (30 cm300 mm <br />0.3 m <br />) +
spheric +  and short cylindric +
0 cm0 mm <br />0 m <br /> (40 cm400 mm <br />0.4 m <br />) +
succulent +
2.8cm;9cm +
yellowish green +  and green +
tuberculate +
Echinocereus chloranthus +, Echinocereus chloranthus var. cylindricus +, Echinocereus chloranthus var. neocapillus +, Echinocereus viridiflorus var. cylindricus +, Echinocereus viridiflorus var. rhyolithensis +  and Echinocereus russanthus +
adventitious +
tuberlike +
epipetric +  and epiphytic +
Echinocereus viridiflorus +
Echinocereus +
species +
dull +  and glossy +
brick-red +, yellowish green +, maroon +, darker purplish +  and darker +
0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br /> (0.2 cm2 mm <br />0.002 m <br />) +
branched +, few +  and unbranched +
epiphytic;epiphytic;epiphytic +
decumbent +, pendent +, sprawling +, ascending +  and erect +
barrel-shaped +  and spheric +