Yellow alicoche (Echinocereus enneacanthus)
Description
Echinocereus enneacanthus is a caespitose cactus forming dense or lax clumps either loose decumbent, or erect with 20-100(-500) branches, usually branching before flowering. There appears to be quite a variation in spination, at least in number and length of spines. Two subspecies are recognized, the nominate form and subsp. brevispinus.Stems: Cylindrical, the longest sometimes prostrate, 5-14 cm diameter up to over 100 cm long (but usually much shorter). The stems of this species are soft or flaccid, pale to bright green and often remain wrinkled.Ribs: 7-12 with uninterrupted but prominent warty crests.Areoles: Circular 18-52 mm apart.Radial spines: 5-9 per areole, 25-45 mm long, straight or slightly curved, needle-like, more or less flattened, bulbous at the base, brownish, often tipped or banded with darker brown. Central spines: 1-5 per areole, 55-95 mm long, divergent, porrect, flattened, stout, and slightly curved, opaque, white, tan, brown or grey, often nearly black.Flowers. Funnelform 7-11 cm in diameter, purple-red to pink in varying shades with deep reddish throat, and diurnal. Filaments greenish to pink. Anthers yellow. Stigma green. Style whitish. Blooming season: It flowers in early spring (April through June in habitat) during mid-morning. Flowers close at night and reopen for 2-4 days. The fruits ripen in late summer.Fruit: Round to ovoid pale yellow-green or dull reddish, , maturing to bright red, 20-30 mm, pulp white or pale pink. The fruit is edible. After the spines are removed from the green-brown flesh of the fruit, it can be eaten and tastes similar to strawberry, hence the name strawberry cactus.Seeds: 1,0-1,4 mm, black irregular, globular, or ovoid tuberculate.
Taxonomic tree
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Domain: Eukarya
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Kingdom: Plantae
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Phylum: Magnoliophyta
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Class: Magnoliopsida
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Order: Caryophyllales
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Family: Cactaceae
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Genus: Echinocereus
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