claret-cup hedgehog cactus

Photo: Dave Powell, USDA Forest Service, United States — CC BY-SA 3.0 · source

Survives zone 4 through 9

Harvest calendar

Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.

Small red-purple fleshy fruit, edible and among the better-flavoured hedgehog-cactus fruits — a trailside snack rather than a harvest crop. ⚠ Brush off the fine deciduous spines before handling. They are spines, not glochids — Echinocereus has none of the barbed bristles that make an Opuntia fruit a nuisance to pick.

Hardiness

Zone 4–9

Habit

Groundcover

Edible part

Fruit

Ripens

Late summer–autumn

Mature size

Mounding clumps 15–60 cm tall, the mounds reaching 1 m or more across; excellent in containers

Light

Full sun

Soil pH

6.5–8.0 (neutral–alkaline, sharp drainage)

Environment

Temperate

Native range

Southwestern United States and northern Mexico — Colorado and Utah south through New Mexico, Arizona and Texas, on rocky slopes and canyon walls from foothills to over 3,000 m.

Status

Wild

Years to fruit

2–3 yrs

Growth speed

Slow

Spacing

45 cm (18 in) apart — about 4.9 per m² (4.6 per 10 sq ft)

Leaf shape

No leaves at all. The plant is a cluster of ribbed cylindrical stems, with spines borne in areoles along the ribs — and, unlike the Opuntia here, no glochids.

Root system

Shallow and fibrous, spreading close to the surface among rocks; the clumping stems root where they contact soil. Absolutely intolerant of winter wet at the crown, which is what kills it in gardens rather than cold — it is hardy well below freezing when dry.

Fruit description

Fleshy red fruit 2–3 cm long, ripening in summer. The spines on it are deciduous and brush off easily, leaving sweet pinkish flesh often likened to strawberry. Pleasant, small and seedy — a trailside snack rather than a crop.

Propagation

Detach an offset from the clump, let the cut callus for several days, then set it in gritty free-draining mix. Seed germinates readily but grows slowly.

Pollination

Hummingbird- and bee-pollinated (red tubular flowers)

The edible parts listed above are a starting point, not a field guide. Identify a plant with certainty — ideally against a local authority — before eating any part of it, and read the full disclaimer. Spotted something wrong? Report it.