Barrel cactus?

A barrel cactus?

class 14 at the BCSS National Show

When the Ed stopped at class 14, (One Echinocactus Grp 140mm), there was a bit of a shock. Echinocactus is another name for barrel cactus and barrel cacti are big - or at least biggish; there were just TWO entries in this class and they were TINY!

Our contenders are Echinocactus polycephalus on the left, from California and Arizona, where a big one is a yard across, and E. horizonthalonius, a very common plant up to a foot, mostly in New Mexico and Texas.

Where they grow both plants are common and so big you could hardly miss them. Back in chilly Britain both species are pigs to grow. The Ed has germinated seeds which lasted just a few weeks. Skilled growers manage a few years with plants on their own roots and polycephalus is probably the more difficult. John Betteley told me this 6" plant is seven years old from seed.

So, when you look at these tiddlers, which are still the product of skilled cultivation in the UK, I thought you might like to see the real thing in habitat. When cultivators can grow (especially) Echinocactus polycephalus like Mammillaria bombycina I think we will be in heaven and Pseudolithos cubiformis will be a weed.

Echinocactus polycephalus in Arizona

Above: Echinocactus polycephalus in cultivation (for 7 years) and in habitat for many years more in the Glen Canyon Recreation Area, Arizona.

Below: Echinocactus horizonthalonius, the habitat photo is in the Big Bend National Park, Texas.

Echinocactus horizonthalonius in the Big Bend N.P