Ferocactus echidne

Ferocactus echidne is a small to medium-sized cactus that grows alone or in clusters. Its flattened to cylindrical shoots are typically cloudy to gray-green, reaching heights of and diameters of . The plant has 13 to 21 sharp, ribbed ridges without tubercles. Its thin, amber-colored spines are needle-like and smooth, with a single central spine up to long, and seven to nine shorter, radiating marginal spines. At the top of its shoots, the cactus produces funnel-shaped flowers, yellow or red, long and in diameter. Its fruits are spherical to egg-shaped, light green or white with pinkish or red hues, fleshy, and growing up to long. File:Ferocactus echidne 03.jpg|Orange flower plant File:Ferocactus echidne v. rhodanthus (5776730959).jpg|Plant with red flowers File:Ferocactus echidne (1).jpg|Flowers closeup File:Ferocactus echidne Ferokaktus 2023-06-09 03.jpg|Fruits ==Distribution==

Ferocactus echidna grows in limestone soil in the bushlands and tropical forests at elevations of 300 to 1860 meters in Mexico's Hidalgo, San Luis Potosí, Queretaro, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, and Guanajuato states. File:Ferocactus echidne (5664815934).jpg|Plant growing in La Reforma Near, González Municipality, Tamaulipas File:Ferocactus echidne (5709540827).jpg|Habitat in San Luis Potosí, Mexico File:Ferocactus echidne (5754081136).jpg|Plant growing in Xichu, Guanajuato ==Taxonomy==

Ferocactus echidne, described by Augustin-Pyrame de Candolle in 1834 as Echinocactus echidne, gets its species name "echidne" from Latin, meaning "snake," though its precise significance remains uncertain. In 1922, Nathaniel Lord Britton and Joseph Nelson Rose reclassified this species under the genus Ferocactus. Alternatively it has been assigned the binomials Echinocactus emoryi, Ferocactus rectispinus, and Ferocactus covillei. == References ==