Plants grow with single stems or more often in clumps from three inches to a foot and a half or so tall, sometimes in large flat masses or in hemispherical mounds. The stems are simple, rarely branched, tubercled, and covered with a series of ridges running lengthwise from top to bottom; these ridges are almost hidden by a dense network of spines spreading out over the entire plant, and causing such a marked resemblance to the hedgehog that the group is named the “Hedgehog Cacti.” The Hedgehog Cacti can be distinguished from young Sahuaro by the fact that the thorns of Echinocerei form a lacework extending across the ridges, almost hiding them, while in the Sahuaro the network of spines is along the tops of the ridges and does not extend across them. The thorns are mostly of two kinds, centrals and radials, growing from less than half an inch to three inches long. There are no spicules. The flowers are funnel-shaped and bell-shaped, crimson and scarlet, also occurring in pink and deep purples, large and showy, and growing in heavy masses. They open in the forenoon and close in the afternoon, lasting several days, or remain open for three or four days or longer without closing. The fruit looks like a mass of enormous bright red strawberries and is delicious served with cream and sugar; hence the name “Strawberry Cacti.” The unripe fruit is exceedingly spiny, the thorns generally falling off at maturity or easily dislodged. It has small tubercles which bear the spine clusters and bracts.
How to grow
The Hedgehog Cacti are of the easiest culture in out-of-door gardens, blossoming and fruiting profusely; in greenhouse cultivation they rarely flower. They thrive in any ordinary clay loam with some gravel or coarse sand (even tolerating a little alkali), and with good drainage. The plants may be watered regularly once a month in the absence of rain during the growing season; they require little other care. They may be transplanted at any season provided the roots are not seriously injured; when transplanted early in spring, they blossom during the same season. Sometimes Hedgehog Cacti can be grown from cuttings made from the stems; the cut surface should be allowed to dry and the cutting set about two inches deep in moist sandy soil. The usual method is to grow these plants from seeds sown in sandy soil mixed with a small amount of powdered charcoal and leaf mold, a quarter-inch deep in flats or pots set in part shade and with enough water to keep the soil moist. When a half-inch high, the seedlings are transplanted to small pots, and later from there to the garden. A southern exposure is very desirable.
California or Mojave Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus mojavensis)
(Named for the Mojave Desert where it was discovered)
How to identify and how it grows
The stems of the Mojave Hedgehog Cactus are as long as seven inches and of a pale green. The structure of the stems furnishes a dozen or so ribs, and this arrangement provides the necessary strength for support. The plant is covered with a whitish system of spines, slender and bent and in age becoming gray. The spines are radial; they are not long but are dangerous to touch. The flowers of this little plant are scarlet and remain open for several days; they are rather small, not more than an inch and a half across. The petals are mostly thick and broad and have obtuse tips that are sometimes notched, while the ovary has white felted areolas covered with short needlelike spines for protection. The fruit is elliptical, about the size of an English walnut, and ripens in May and June. We have found that the plants grow in loose clumps, forming into mounds among the shifting sands, a conspicuous feature on the desert and foothills with their flaming bloom, hence called also the Desert-Afire.
How to grow
These plants will grow outdoors where temperatures descend to twenty or twenty-five degrees below freezing; in colder climates they may be grown in hot, dry conservatories or rock gardens. Like others of this group the plants may be transplanted at almost any season, and if planted in early spring they blossom the same year. They grow in sandy or loamy soil with enough water to keep the soil moist during the growing season; they endure prolonged drought in their native habitats and hence should not be watered excessively in cultivation.