Echinocereus fasciculatus

Echinocereus fasciculatus forms loose groups consisting of five to 20 shoots. The green cylindrical to elongated shoots are 16 to 45 centimeters long and have a diameter of 4 to 7.5 centimeters. The shoot surface is not completely covered by the spines. There are eight to 18 ribs that are not clearly tuberculated. The two to four straight, light-colored central spines have a darker tip and are 2.5 to 7.5 centimeters long. One of them stands out. The eleven to 13 spreading, straight, whitish or grayish marginal spines are 1.2 to 2 centimeters long. The broadly funnel-shaped flowers are magenta to reddish purple. They appear in the upper half of the shoots, are 5 to 6.2 centimeters long and reach the same diameter. The spherical, fleshy, initially green fruits later turn red. File:Robust-Hedgehog (4568668157).gif File:Echinocereus fasciculatus (1).jpg ==Distribution==

Echinocereus fasciculatus is distributed in the United States in the states of New Mexico and Arizona and in the neighboring Mexican state of Sonora. File:Echinocereus fasciculatus 8.jpeg|Echinocereus fasciculatus growing in Gila County, Arizona File:Echinocereus fasciculatus 16.jpeg|Habitat in Coconino National Forest, Rimrock, Arizona File:Echinocereus fasciculatus 22.jpeg|Habitat in Pima County, Arizona ==Taxonomy==

The first description as Mammillaria fasciculata by Benjamin Daydon Jackson was published in 1895. The epithet fasciculatus comes from Latin, means 'densely packed together' and refers to the cluster-forming reed-like shoots of the species. Wolfgang Blum and Michael Lange introduced the species as a subspecies to the species Echinocereus engelmannii in 1998. Nomenclature synonyms are Cactus fasciculatus (Engelm. ex B.D.Jacks.) Kuntze (1891, nom. illegal ICBN article 53.1), Neomammillaria fasciculata (Engelm. ex B.D.Jacks.) Britton & Rose (1923), Echinocereus engelmannii subsp. fasciculatus (Engelm. ex B.D.Jacks.) W.Blum & Mich.Lange (1998) and Echinocereus fendleri var. fasciculatus (Engelm. ex B.D.Jacks.) N.P.Taylor (1985). ==References==