Scientific name: Echinomastus
(Parry ex Engelm.) E.M. Baxter
In: Calif. Cactus 75. 1935.
South Utah, Nevada, California (Dead Valley area) Arizona.
Conservation status: Listed in
CITES appendix 2.
It grows in a very
and dry environment, in the
Mojave desert scrub and
upper edge of Sonoran desert scrub on rocky hillside on gravelly hills
in lime-stone impregnated soil, Altitude 500-1400 m;
Synonyms: For Joseph E.
Johonson (1817-1822) US-American amateur and botanist of st. George
Common English Names include:
Johnson's fishhook cactus.
Parry ex Engelm
In S. Watson, Botany (Fortieth
Parallel), Bot. King. Expl. 117. 1871
Parry ex Engelm. var.
- Echinomastus johnsonii var.
lutescens (Parish) Wiggins
- Echinomastus johnsonii var.
octocentrus J.M. Coulter
In: Contr. U.S. Nat. Herb. 3:
374. 1896 Echinomastus arizonicus Hester.
(Parry ex Engelm.) L.D. Benson
(Parry ex Engelm.) L.D. Benson var.
(Parish) W.T. Marsh. ex R.G. Engard
(Parry ex Engelm.) N.P. Taylor
- Ferocactus johnsonii
Britton & Rose
In: cactaceae 3: 141. 1922
- Thelocatus johnsonii
W.T.Marshall ex Kelsey & Dayton
Echinomastus johnsonii is a
small “barrel cacti” almost completely hidden by the interlocking
spines. Usually solitary (or occasionally branching after injury to the
apical bud). This plant varies geographically in both flower and
Stems Ovoid to ellipsoid-cylindroid, 10-25 cm long, 7-15
cm in diameter. Apex more or less devoid of spines, but with a heavily
felted-over circular patch 1-1,5 cm in diameter at the apex.
Ribs: (13-)18-21, narrow, undulate, strongly indented just above
each tubercle and rising gradually to the next. Tubercles protruding
approx 5-8 mm.
Areoles: (14-)21-26 mm apart along ribs with a short, narrow
woolly groove running from the upper margin of the areole to the axil of
the tubercle, areolar glands present at least seasonally.
Spines 13-24 per areole, spreading, often intricately
intertangled, acicular, greysh to pale yellow, tienged in pink-reddish,
lavender to maroon and often blackening in age.
Radial spines: 9-16 per areole, stouter, more or less bulbouse at
the base, divaricately spreading; abaxial (shortest) radial spine 6-19
mm; adaxial and lateral (longest) radial spines ca. 27-40 mm (often
lighter in colour)
Central spines: 4-9 per areole, present at all ages, spreading
straight or slightly curving, never hooked, 27-41 long.
Flowers Funnel form 4-6 cm long, 4-7,5 cm in diameter; inner
tepals yellow or pink to magenta with a silvery sheen, basal portions
blotched with maroon . Scale of the ovary obtuse, menbranous on
margins.Stigma lobes yellowish white to green.
Blooming season: Flowering (Feb-)Mar-May; fruiting Apr-Jun
Fruits: Green drying to tan, nearly naked,
dehiscent only along single,
longitudinal split, spheric to oblong, 10-18 mm.
Seeds: Papillate, finely reticulate-pitted, broader then long.
Note: The yellow-flowered
plants have been named E. johnsonii var. lutescens.
The pink-flowered plants occur in separate populations, as far as is
known, to the north of the yellow-flowered plants.