WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

When tucked into rocks, these solitary, rounded cacti, 3/4–1 3/8-inches in diameter, are almost impossible to see when not blooming or dotted with scarlet, cylindrical fruit. Note the harmless, bristle-like spines.

FLOWERS: February–April. 1–8 flowers around rim of apex; petal-like tepals white-creamy with a reddish-brown midstripe, each tepal 3/8–5/8-inch long (9–16 mm); stigma lobes yellow or pale yellow-green to green. Fruit erect, bright-red, cylindrical to club-shaped, thin, 3/4–1-inch tall (10–25 mm).

SPINES: Areoles have 40–60 white to brown-tipped spines, 1/4–3/16-inch long (2.5–5 mm), thin, flat-lying, overlapping, obscuring the tiny tubercles on the stem; spines in clusters 3/8-inch diameter (10 mm) on the areole tips, no central spines.

HABITAT: Rocky limestone hills; desert scrub.

ELEVATION: 3,200–6,000 feet.

RANGE: AZ, NM. TX.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Button Cactus, Epithelantha micromeres, in similar range and habitat, has pale pink flowers without a red mid-stripes and spine clusters 1/16–3/16-inch wide (2–5 mm).

NM COUNTIES: SE NM in low-elevation, arid habitats: Eddy, Lincoln, Otero.