WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

Look for the fishhook spines on the solitary, rounded (young) to cylindrical stems of this 3–6-inch tall, 2–3-inch wide cactus, often found in clumps of grass in desert scrub.

FLOWER: March–May. Reddish-brown, maroon flowers, 3/4–1 1/8-inch wide (20–28 mm) with yellowish stigmas and anthers, boom from the apex (not sides) of the stem. Fruit fleshy, red, egg-shaped, 3/4–1-inch long (20–25 mm).

SPINES: A dense array of curved and hooked spines covers the 9–13, deeply notched ribs. Areoles on each protrusion have 1–4 tan to pinkish central spines and 5–9, reddish-tan radials. The principle central, 2–4-inches long, and the 3 lower radials are hooked. Spines are slightly flattened.

HABITAT: Rocky, sandy soils of desert scrub, grasslands, hills, often in association with clumps of grass.

ELEVATION: 3,500–6,000 feet.

RANGE: NM, TX, Mexico.

SIMILAR SPECIES: The much larger Fishhook Barrel Cactus, Ferocactus wislizeni, in southern NM, has a 7–36-inch tall stem, 14–25-inches in diameter, and red to yellow flowers in late summer. Other brown-flowering cacti do not have fishhook spines. The purple-flowered Clover’s Fishhook Cactus, Sclerocactus cloverae subsp. cloverae, in nw  NM, only has the lower central spine hooked.

NM COUNTIES: Southern NM in low-elevation, arid habitats: Chaves, Dona Ana, Eddy, Otero, Sierra..