Texas Wildbuds

Echinocereus coccineus ssp. transpecosensis

(Claret Cup Cactus)

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Echinocereus coccineus ssp. transpecosensis, Lost Mine Trail, Big Bend National Park 3705

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Echinocereus coccineus ssp. transpecosensis, Lost Mine Trail, Big Bend National Park 3661

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Echinocereus coccineus ssp. transpecosensis, Pine Canyon Trail, Big Bend National Park 2800

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Echinocereus coccineus ssp. transpecosensis, Williams Ranch Road, Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Culberson Co. 06814

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Echinocereus coccineus ssp. transpecosensis, Williams Ranch Road, Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Culberson Co. 06838

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Echinocereus coccineus ssp. transpecosensis, Williams Ranch Road, Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Culberson Co. 06825

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Echinocereus coccineus ssp. transpecosensis, Williams Ranch Road, Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Culberson Co. 06844

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Echinocereus coccineus ssp. transpecosensis, Williams Ranch Road, Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Culberson Co. 06800

Scientific Name Echinocereus coccineus ssp. transpecosensis USDA PLANTS Symbol N/A
Common Name Claret Cup Cactus, Scarlet Hedgehog Cactus ITIS Taxonomic Serial No. N/A
Family Cactaceae (Cactus) SEINet
Reference		 Click Here
Description Habitat: Dry, limestone soils in semi-desert shrublands, mountains and rocky areas; 2300 to 7800 ft.
Plant: Mounds up to 30 inches across; a few to 20 or more stems.
Pads & Spines: Cylindrical to ellipsoidal stems, 2 to 4 inches in diameter and 4 to 16 inches tall with 7 to 11 ribs; dark green to purple surface; round/oval areoles with 1 to 4 central spines 0.4 to 2.4 inches long and 6 to 11 radial spines 0.2 to 1.2 inches long; yellowish to brown becoming gray.
Inflorescence: Funnel to cup-shaped flowers with rounded, rather stiff, bright crimson tepals with cream-colored bases, 1.6 to 3 inches across; male flowers with cream-colored filaments and pink-purple pollen-filled anthers; female flowers with short filaments and empty anther sacs below 6 to 14 light-green stigma lobes.
Bloom Period: March and April.
Fruit: Reddish-brown to pink, round to oval, 1 to 1.5 inches long and almost as wide.
References: iNaturalist and A New Echinocereus Taxon with Red Flowers From the Trans Pecos Area of Texas by Blum and Oldach in "The Cactus Explorers".
Note: This is a relatively new subspecies that was described in 2015 by Wolfgang Blum, Traute Oldach and Jörn Oldach in the reference above.		 BONAP Distribution Map

N/A

Texas Status:
Native
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Banner photo of Castilleja indivisa and Lupinus ssp. taken along FM 1323 north of Johnson City, Blanco County

© Tom Lebsack 2025