Single Record
Participant Info
- Species
- Echinocereus coccineus [Echinocereus triglochidiatus var. melanocanthus] [Triglochidiatus coccineus] [Cereus coccineus] [Echinocereus conoides] etc.
- Family
- Cactaceae
- CommonName
- hedgehog cactus, claret-cup cactus
- Presence
- Yes
- Status
- native
- EarliestDate
- 1922
- LatestDate
- 2024
- Ecosystem
- foothill, montane
- Geobotanical
- SSawatch, Garitas, NCristos
- Counties
- Alamosa, Costilla, Rio Grande, Saguache
- Passes
- WildlifePreserves
- Great Sand Dunes
- Other Localities
- Comments
- In the Watershed, for hedgehog cactus there are three main locations: the foothills of the east San Juans, from Del Norte up to Saguache; around the Great Sand Dunes NPP; and the west foothills of the Culebras from Blanca down to San Luis. The cactus is more common in the Watershed than herbarium vouchers suggest. The distribution is problematized by disagreement among authorities about dividing up Echinocereus species, subspecies, and varieties. Separating E. coccineus from E. triglochidiatus is not easy in the field. The base of spines of the first are round in cross-section (terete) in the first, and are angled in second—but the variation in that character is considerable. E. coccineus is polyploid, E. triglochiiatus diploid, but that distinction is of no use for field identification. For more photographs and comment, click "yes" in the Annotations page below.
- Annotation
- Yes