Claret Cup Cactus
Author: Ray Bowers

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Species: Echinocereus triglochidatus

Description:
Claret cup cactus are perennial plants that are from 7.5 to 10 cm (3 to 4 in) tall with a ribbed cylinder shape. Each rib has two to sixteen clusters of spines, with three to six slightly curved spines per cluster. The plants form clumps that are 5 to 20 cm ( 2 to 8 in ) across.

Geographic range:
Claret cup cactus are found from southeastern California to western Texas, and from central Colorado south to northern Mexico.

Habitat:
Claret cups are found on gravelly or sandy slopes and plains as well as in arroyos.

Reproduction and Development:
Claret cups cactus are monoecious plants that bloom from April through May. The 3.1 to 5 cm (1,25 to 2 in ) flowers have bright red to scarlet-orange petals and stamens surrounding a green sepals. They are pollenated by insects and humming birds. The flower stems grow out of the sides of the cactus near the top. The fruit is 1.3 to 2,5 cm (0.5 to 1 in) long, and turns red when ripe and is full of many spherical black seeds.

Other info:
Claret cups are often used as ornamental plants in cactus gardens. The fruit has small spines that drop off when the fruit is ripe, and the ripe fruit is edible with a sweet taste.

Taxonomy:

Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Caryophaeales
Family: Cactaceae
Genus: Echinocereus
Species: Echinocereus triglochidatus

References:
Allred, Kelly W. 2000. A Field Guide to the Flora of the Jornada Plain. Las Cruces: NMSU Department of Animal and Range Science.

Kearney, Thomas H. and Robert H. Peebles. 1951. Arizona Flora. Berkeley, California: University of California Press.

Niehaus, Theodore F. 1984. A Field Guide to Southwestern and Texas Wildflowers. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.

MacMahon, James A. 1987. Deserts. New York: Alfred A. Knoph, Inc.

Wooton, E.O. and Paul C. Standley. 1915. Flora of New Mexico. Contributions from the United States National Herbarium, Vol 19. Washington: Government Printing Office.

Related Terms: Magnoliophyta, Magnoliopsida