Name
Echinocerens is from the Greek echinos, meaning "a hedgehog," and cereus meaning "a wax taper." These names refer to the plant's spiny resemblance to a hedgehog (or so the early Europeans thought) and the plant's shape, respectively. Triglochidialus means "three barbed bristles" and refers to the straight spines arranged in clusters of three. Also called claret cup cactus, after the reddish, cup-shaped flowers.
Description
A small barrel-shaped cactus. Few to several hundred stems in a compact hemispheric clump or mound. The stems are mainly cylindrical, up to one foot long and one to two and one-half inches thick, and with nine or ten ribs. The central spines are straight or slightly curved and one to two inches long. Smaller radial spines arise from below the central spines at a sharp angle.
Stems are green and contain chlorophyll. There are no leaves.
Flowers are scarlet red, with many petals, and are cup-shaped. The flowers are one to two inches long and grow below the stem's apex. Hummingbirds are the primary pollinators and must stick their entire head into the flower to reach the nectar chambers at the flower's base. In the process, the hummingbird's forehead gets dusted with pollen. (Sometimes they look like another species of hummingbird!) The fruits are red at maturity and are edible (remember to burn off the spines first!). Flowers bloom April through June, from low to higher elevations. This is the first cactus to bloom in the spring.
The flowers stay open at night, unlike many other species of cacti whose flowers close in the evening. The flowers last three to five days.
