Hedgehog Cactus Flower

Did you know

• The large showy flowers can reach 8 cm across — dramatically oversized compared to the small cactus body.
• Named after George Engelmann, a 19th-century botanist who catalogued hundreds of American cacti and grapes.
• Echinocereus means 'hedgehog cereus,' a nod to the spiny, rounded stems that cluster like a hedgehog ball.
• Cactus bees (Diadasia) are specialist pollinators that time their emergence precisely with hedgehog cactus bloom.
• The ripe red fruits are edible and were eaten fresh or dried by Indigenous peoples of the Sonoran Desert.

Color meanings

Uses

• xeriscape gardens
• rock gardens
• native desert restoration
• edible fruit
• ornamental