Echinocereus triglochidiatus complex

Fantastic variation in spination (is that a word?), I like them all, but the last one is spectacular.

I second that, Mark, the last one takes the prize! It seems to be a special kind of red and set against the green, not so very spiny compared to the other two, body of the plant it looks fantastic!

I'm glad you like them they are stunning to see in bloom on a sunny summer day.

Here are closer shots of the forms with heavy gray spines. These were collected in the mountains of north central New Mexico
The last one has a female Black-chinned Hummingbird (Archilochus alexandri) feeding.

Truly awesome color, and I never would have guessed all those variations would be the same species, if the flowers didn't give me a clue first.

Yes, a very fascinating color and the spiniest are are as good as the (almost) spineless! Are hummingbirds important pollinators for these plants?

Hoy
Yes hummingbirds are a key pollinator in their native habitat. I have seen bees work on the flowers also but the flowers are adapted to favor the hummingbirds.

Typical E. coccineus and E. triglochidiatus both usually have scarlet flowers, but in the southern reaches of their range often hybridize with E. dasyacanthus, and then you get an amazing range of taxa that have been classed as E. x roetteri or E. x lloydii depending on your taste.

I am attaching a picture of a pale pink x lloydii and one of the biggest clumps of coccineus I have encountered next to my nervous girlfriend near Moab a few years ago. Went back to the same clump this past spring and it was still gorgeous...

I have quite a few pix of other claret cup forms on my Picasa album: http://picasaweb.google.com/panayoti.kelaidis/CactusAndNAmericanSucculents#

Weiser wrote:

Hoy
Yes hummingbirds are a key pollinator in their native habitat. I have seen bees work on the flowers also but the flowers are adapted to favor the hummingbirds.

Thanks John! not unexpected!

Kelaidis wrote:

Typical E. coccineus and E. triglochidiatus both usually have scarlet flowers, but in the southern reaches of their range often hybridize with E. dasyacanthus, and then you get an amazing range of taxa that have been classed as E. x roetteri or E. x lloydii depending on your taste.

I am attaching a picture of a pale pink x lloydii and one of the biggest clumps of coccineus I have encountered next to my nervous girlfriend near Moab a few years ago. Went back to the same clump this past spring and it was still gorgeous...

I have quite a few pix of other claret cup forms on my Picasa album: http://picasaweb.google.com/panayoti.kelaidis/CactusAndNAmericanSucculents#

You have an impressive album, Kelaidis, I would love to grow more cacti and other succulents but the space indoors and the climate outdoors set limits!

It's two nice motifs in your last picture but the vote goes to. . . .

PK that is a nice clump of E. coccineus.  ;D
Please correct me if I am wrong but some of the main differences between E. coccineus and E. triglochidiatus is the chromosome count and the imperfect (dioecious) flowers found in some populations of E. coccineus. 

http://www.fs.fed.us/rm/pubs/rmrs_p036/rmrs_p036_438_443.pdf

Here is an article that covers the hybridization involved in creating E. x lloydii. 

http://www.springerlink.com/content/W26882T152152355/fulltext.pdf

And here are a few pictures of my E. x lloydii.

Wondeful color on your x lloydii! Do you ever get seed? It would be really interesting to grow seed out of that and see what the next generation would yield...

In my experience, E. coccineus blooms several weeks before E. triglochidiatus where their ranges overlap (or in the garden) and coccineus makes much denser, bigger clumps and is generally much spinier. And its flowers often have more orange in them. E. triglochidiatus also tends to have fewer spines, and much bigger ones and often has enormous stems (up to nearly 3' in the famous White Sands form) and the stems are often a dark bluegreen color. The flower color is usually a crimson rather than scarlet in flower color (all these are generalizations, I know)...but based on seeing hundreds of plants over time in gardens and the wild. They are all wonderful!

PK it didn't set fruit this year.  :-[ I hope it may this coming season. I think it was just too cold and the pollinators were not active. I will get my paint brushes out of storage and try my hand at pollinating it should the need arise.

The color of E. lloydii wasn't bad either! What an ardent glorious flower!

Echinocereus triglochidiatus var. mojavensis is one of the recognized varieties. It grows as a dense mound of stems with white interlacing spines and rich red flowers. The plants pup new heads readily and can in cultivation double the head count in a single season. The stems are not as large as found in other forms of Echinocereus triglochidiatus but the shear mass of large 500 head clumps in bloom is a sight to see.

Here are two pictures of 200< head clumps from the garden of Charles Barnum, Sparks NV.
The close ups are of a start he gave me.  It was photographed in it's second season in my garden.
You can see how it has increased in size in just two years.

Not a bad start, John!

Add New Mexico to the states where this species grows. it can be found up to 8000 feet or so.

Great plants, love the orange x lloydii..
Some high elevation populations are supposed to be very hardy,  far lower than -17C.. I have a few seedlings I will be trying, but I think my problem with the Echinocereus in general will be a not hot enough summer...

Here are a few shots of a Echinocereus coccineus I have had for six years now. Last year it had three or four flowers. This is it's second season of flowers. If it keeps increasing it,s flower production it will be spectacular in a couple of more seasons.
It looks like this one may be fully fertile.

Weiser wrote:

Here are a few shots of a Echinocereus coccineus I have had for six years now. Last year it had three or four flowers. This is it's second season of flowers. If it keeps increasing it,s flower production it will be spectacular in a couple of more seasons.
It looks like this one may be fully fertile.

John, I think it is spectacular now! Any chance for seed if it is fertile?

It's going to take a bucket of water to put those out.  The brighter the better. 8)

Awesome!

Well I guess now I don't feel so bad that mine hasn't bloomed yet after seven years.  (It is way smaller, too.)  But oh my, look what I might have to look forward to! 

Really cool  8) -I mean hot- John!

Greetings,

Excellent photos and information.  I'm currently growing this species from seed I got from Alplains collected in Chaffee County, Colorado at 7600ft (zone 4). I'm going to experiment with winter hardiness here in Western Montana (also zone 4).  Has anyone seen this beauty? http://www.swcoloradowildflowers.com/pink%20enlarged%20photo%20pages/echinocereus%20triglochidiatus%202.htm. Or how about this one? http://www.swcoloradowildflowers.com/pink%20enlarged%20photo%20pages/echinocereus%20triglochidiatus%204.htm.

Brian

Brian_W wrote:

Greetings,

Excellent photos and information.  I'm currently growing this species from seed I got from Alplains collected in Chaffee County, Colorado at 7600ft (zone 4). I'm going to experiment with winter hardiness here in Western Montana (also zone 4).  Has anyone seen this beauty? http://www.swcoloradowildflowers.com/pink%20enlarged%20photo%20pages/echinocereus%20triglochidiatus%202.htm. Or how about this one? http://www.swcoloradowildflowers.com/pink%20enlarged%20photo%20pages/echinocereus%20triglochidiatus%204.htm.
Those are some good looking cactus, I hope the do good for you.

Brian

My seedlings of Echocereus triglochidiatus from NARGS Seed Ex seed.  So far, they have only overwintered in the refrigerator.

RickR wrote:

My seedlings of Echocereus triglochidiatus from NARGS Seed Ex seed.  So far, they have only overwintered in the refrigerator.
       

Coming along nicely.

Weiser wrote:

Here are a few shots of a Echinocereus coccineus I have had for six years now. Last year it had three or four flowers. This is it's second season of flowers. If it keeps increasing it,s flower production it will be spectacular in a couple of more seasons.
It looks like this one may be fully fertile.

Awesome! I think I would retire from gardening if I ever got a claret cup display like that.

Thought I'd show off a hybrid Echinocereus x lloydii (syn. Echinocereus  X roetteri), the natural interspecific hybrid between E. coccineus and E. dasyacanthus or E. triglochidiatus and E. pectinatus. I'm not quite sure which it correct. Although I think in this case I see more of a resemblance to E. dasyacantha. Do any of you know for sure which cross is correct for these hybrids or are there two separate hybrids which are listed under this name/ names? Very confusing I'm just glad the plants are not confused too and are able to produce lovely blossoms despite the confusion.

Weiser wrote:

Thought I'd show off a hybrid Echinocereus x lloydii (syn. Echinocereus  X roetteri), the natural interspecific hybrid between E. coccineus and E. dasyacanthus or E. triglochidiatus and E. pectinatus. I'm not quite sure which it correct. Although I think in this case I see more of a resemblance to E. dasyacantha. Do any of you know for sure which cross is correct for these hybrids or are there two separate hybrids which are listed under this name/ names? Very confusing I'm just glad the plants are not confused too and are able to produce lovely blossoms despite the confusion.

From what I understand (I may be wrong) is that x roetteri refers to wild hybrids of E. coccineus and E. dasyacantha in New Mexico like around Orogrande where it is common. x lloydii is also a wild hybrid of coccineus/dasyacantha but from an area of Texas with different coccineus forms than New Mexico yielding a different looking hybrid than x roetteri.  Like you say the bottom line is the plants are awesome no matter the name.

Thank you Andy for the insight.

Fantastic, John! :)
Brian, I also have a couple of the high altitude Alplains collections and will be trying more-- just seedlings so far... I think all the Echinos will be marginal here, in part because of coolish summers, I wouldn't think you should have too much trouble in the right planting in balmy z4  ;D

A shining plant though, anyway  ;)

Trond, you can grow them all in an unheated greenhouse in Norway.

Martin, I only have to get hold of them!
Har forresten sendt deg noen Sedum i dag ;)

My very first claret cup flower just opened, only took 6 years to get one. I do quality over quantity here  ;D

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Echinocereus mojavensis

Wow! And that is definite quality!  :)  Love the colour.

Lori wrote:

Wow! And that is definite quality!  :)  Love the colour.

Ditto!  For a first flower, it really has fantastic color and petal count, too. ;D