Santa Fe Botanical Garden

Common name: claret cup cactus, scarlet hedgehog

Family: Cactaceae (Cactus)

Distribution: Southwestern United States, Northern Mexico

Habitat: Desert scrub, grasslands, pinyon-juniper and oak forests

Hardiness: USDA Zone 6 (-10 to 0 °F)

Life form: Cactus/succulent

Occurrence in New Mexico: New Mexico native plant

Growing Conditions: The native range of scarlet hedgehog (claret cup) cactus extends from Chihuahua, Coahuila, and Sonora, Mexico, the Big Bend area of west Texas, most of New Mexico, the southern part of Colorado, and southern Arizona. Large mounds of this cactus grow on bajadas, rocky slopes, and cliffs. It is associated with a wide variety of vegetation communities including Chihuahuan desert, desert scrub, desert grasslands, piñon-juniper and oak woodlands, Great Plains grasslands, and montane conifer forest, below 10,000 feet. It favors volcanic soils, but grows on igneous, metamorphic, and limestone substrates. It often grows in partly shaded areas obscured by twigs or long grass, becoming visible when blooming in the spring.

Description: This small, barrel-shaped cactus with showy red or red-orange, cup-shaped flowers, has spines in radial clusters. It is similar to E. triglochidiatus; however, it is smaller, tends to have more spines, more areoles and more ribs, and is less widespread. E. coccineus populations vary from densely to sparsely spine-covered plants from north to south. The ranges of E. coccineus and E. triglochidiatus overlap in northern New Mexico and a small area of southern Colorado, and the two species can be distinguished only by chromosome analysis.