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Engelmann's Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii)
Cactus Around Las Vegas, Vegetation Around Las Vegas
Engelmann's Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii)

General: Engelmann's Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii) usually is a mound-shaped plant to about 1-1/2-feet tall and composed of several, stout, upright stems. Stems rarely solitary. The spines are long, flat, more or less straight, and dark colored with light edges. The flowers are purplish, and the fruits are spiny.

Engelmann's Hedgehog Cactus is a fairly common component of vegetation communities on gravelly and rocky soils along washes, rocky ridges, and upper bajadas and moderate slopes into the lower mountains in the Lower Sonoran (Creosote-Bursage Flats) and Upper Sonoran (Mojave Desert Scrub and Pinyon-Juniper Woodland) life zones.

Around Las Vegas, Strawberry Hedgehog Cactus can be found easily at Red Rock Canyon NCA (Calico Basin, Fossil Ridge), including in plantings around the Visitor Center.

Engelmann's Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii)
Central spines reddish-brown with white margin

Family: Cactus (Cactaceae).

Other Names: Strawberry Hedgehog Cactus, mound cactus.

Plant Form: Several short, thick, upright stems forming a clump or mound.

Height: Usually less than 1.5-feet tall, to about 2 feet tall and 3 feet diameter.

Trunk: None.

Stems: Entire, cylindrical; 1-1/2 to 3-1/2 inches in diameter.

Stem Surface: Ribbed, without tubercles.

Spines: Central: 2-7, about 3-inches long, spreading, usually more or less straight, flat; usually reddish-brown with white margin; radial spines 6-14.

Engelmann's Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii)
Flowers and fruits grow from the side of the stem

Glochids: Absent.

Flowers: Blooms late spring to early summer. Inflorescence: Solitary flower that emerge from the side of the stem near the top. Flower: funnel-shaped, reddish-purple to magenta, 2 to 3-inches diameter; anthers yellow.

Fruit: Fleshy, cylindrical, about 2-inches long and 1/2-inch wide, reddish; well defended with many spines.

Seeds:

Habitat: Dry, well-drained sandy, gravelly, and rocky soils on upper bajadas and moderate slopes into the mountains.

Distribution: Southern California to Utah, and south through Arizona and into Mexico.

Elevation: To about 8,000 feet.

Comments:

Engelmann's Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii) Engelmann's Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii)
Engelmann's Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii) Engelmann's Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii)
Engelmann's Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii) Engelmann's Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii)
Engelmann's Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii) Engelmann's Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii)
Engelmann's Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii) Engelmann's Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii)
Engelmann's Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii) Engelmann's Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii)
Engelmann's Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii) Engelmann's Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii)
Engelmann's Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii)
Engelmann's Hedgehog flowers
Engelmann's Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii)
Engelmann's Hedgehog flowers
Engelmann's Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii) Engelmann's Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii)
Engelmann's Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii)
Strawberry Hedgehog Cactus flower (notice green, fringed stigma)
Engelmann's Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii)
Strawberry Hedgehog Cactus flower (notice green, fringed stigma)
Engelmann's Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii) Engelmann's Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii)
Engelmann's Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii)
Rodent predation on flower buds
Engelmann's Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii)
Rodent predation on flower buds
Engelmann's Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii)
Rodent predation on flower buds
Engelmann's Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii)
Rodent predation on flower buds
Engelmann's Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii)
Engelmann's Hedgehog developing fruits
Engelmann's Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii)
Engelmann's Hedgehog developing fruits
Engelmann's Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii) Engelmann's Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii)
Engelmann's Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii)
Engelmann's Hedgehog with developing fruits
Engelmann's Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii)
Engelmann's Hedgehog developing fruits
Engelmann's Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii)
Engelmann's Hedgehog developing fruits
Engelmann's Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii)
Engelmann's Hedgehog developing fruits
Engelmann's Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii)
Engelmann's Hedgehog ripe fruits
Engelmann's Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii)
Engelmann's Hedgehog ripe fruits
Engelmann's Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii)
Despite spines, small mammals can get the seeds inside dried fruits
Engelmann's Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii)
Despite spines, small mammals can get the seeds inside dried fruits

Note: All distances, elevations, and other facts are approximate. Names generally follow the USDA database.
copyright; Last updated 220814

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