Echinocereus Species, California Hedgehog, Mexican Claret-Cup, Scarlet Hedgehog Cactus

This cactus blooms with bright red flowers in my garden in April or May depending on how warm the spring is. Regrettably, the very attra...Read Morective flowers only last a day or two. It is very hardy, surviving absolutely brutal Oklahoma winters and summers much hotter than its native enviroment. I got mine in Las Cruces, New Mexico five years ago. It has slowly increased to a cluster of six stalks and continues to grow. According to some references, it produces very small amounts of digitalis, a heart medicine.

Many of these grow native in my area. There are large clumps behind the Space Museum on Scenic Drive, if you get to Alamogordo in the Sp...Read Morering. I love the blooms, some of mine are light pink, others dark fushia colored.

A number of these plants are native to my yard, located in full sun as well as under the protective shade of native Creosote Bush (Larrea...Read More tridentata.) Some are difficult to see until the bright orange-red blooms in Spring make them impossible to miss! The bloom period of large plants can extend over a period of weeks, with each bloom remaining open for several days and nights. Too much rain can cause vertical splits in the stems; if this occurs, the splits can heal but the scars are permanent. My healthiest plants are those in elevated locations with excellent drainage. Wonderful additions to any native landscape!

The books that I have lists the flower color as orange-red.
I haven't found a separate variety epithet for the pinkish colored ver...Read Moresion of E. coccineus, if one exists at all, but apparently there is a rare form/variety that has pink flowers.

This species is easily and often confused with Echinocereus triglochidiatus and is frequently found in nature to hybridize with it.
Other popular common names are 'Golden Rainbow Hedgehog'& 'White-spined Claret-cup Cactus'.
This species is used medicinally as a heart stimulant.
The 'coccineus' subspecies has stems that are 1 to 2 inches thick with 8 to 11 ribs. The spines nondifferentiatable between centrals & radials. There are 0 to 4 central spines and 5 to 20 radial spines per areole. The red-orange flower is 3 inches across and the stigma has 7 or 8 lobes.
The 'arizonicus' variety is listed as an endangered species.
The 'paucispinus' variety has stems that are about 2.4 inches thick with 5 to 8 acute narrowly furrowed ribs that have areoles that are 0.4 to 0.8 inches spaced. It has 0 or 1 central spine 1.4 inches long and 3 to 6 radial spines that are curved and straight. The flower is red with a hint of orange & shaped like a funnel about 2 inches long having 7 lobes of the stigma.
The 'gurneyi' variety clumps to over 10 stems that are darker green in color compared to the other varieties and 4 inches thick. The stems have 8 to 11 ribs that have 1 central spine up to 3 inches long and 5 to 12 radial spines per areole. The flowers are Orangish-red. This variety is often included into the 'coccineus' subspecies.
The 'toroweapensis' cultivar at one time was considered to be a subspecies.

Other valid synonyms are:
Echinocereus rosei
Echinocereus steerae
Echinocereus hildmannii
Echinocereus decumbens
Echinocereus neomexicanus
Echinocereus canyonensis
Echinocereus engelmannii subsp. decumbens
Echinocereus pectinatus subsp. ctenoides
Echinocereus coccineus subsp. rosei
Echinocereus coccineus subsp. roemeri
Echinocereus coccineus subsp. aggregatus
Cereus hexaedrus
Cereus aggregata
Escobaria aggregata
Coryphantha aggregata
Mammillaria aggregata