Robust hedgehog cactus (from RimJournal: art and adobe brick, Mexico, the American Southwest, poetry, fiction and food)

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[Flowers have flashy magenta petals surrounding bright green pistil, spiny cactus and buds: 29k]

Robust hedgehog cactus

(Echinocereus fasciculatus)

Cactus Family.
Blooms March to April, only hedgehog common in the vicinity of Tucson into extreme southwestern New Mexico. Engelmann's Hedgehog is quite similar and ranges through California and western Arizona.
12-18 inch (30-45 cm) high, ribbed clumps with showy flowers. One of the earliest cactus to bloom.

Likes sun. The tasty fruits are edible and consumed by birds and animals. Some species of hedgehog have fruits (pitayas) that are delicacies in Indian and Mexican communities.

Browse color tocs: white to cream | yellow to yellow-orange | pink to red-orange | blue to purple | green, etc.

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