Snowball Cactus

Pediocactus nigrispinus

Single or clumps of small round to oblong stems 3–5 in. across. Strong vertical ridges carry warts with clusters of 8–12 stout, upright, white spines with reddish brown to nearly black tips and smaller yellow or white spreading spines. Flowers rose to bright magenta, 1–1 1/2 in., crowded at top center, surrounded by woolly hairs. Grows in dry mountain valleys, rocky ridges. Var. robustior (pictured) is a clustered plant from Pacific Northwest with vivid flowers, rose fragrance.
snowball cactus Geotagged,Pediocactus nigrispinus,Snowball Cactus,Spring,United States

Appearance

General: Fleshy perennials, the stems globose and depressed, single or in clumps, 7-12 cm. thick.
Leaves: Plants leafless; stems covered with tubercles 12-25 mm. long, in 8-13 spiral rows; stems with 8-12. straight central spines 8-25 mm. long, and 10-30 smaller marginal spines.
Flowers: Flowers solitary near the tip of a tubercle, 1.5-2 cm. long, red-violet to yellowish-green; sepals, petals and stamens numerous, all joined at the base; ovary inferior, 1-celled.
Fruits: Fruit sub-globose, 6-8 mm. long.
Hedgehog Cactus the newest information available lists this a separate species from P. simpsonii rather than a subspecies This particular wildlife area shares it's lands with a wind and solar power installation. Because these little guys are rare, each time a wind tower is erected all of the cacti are carefully moved to a new location. Geotagged,Pediocactus nigrispinus,Snowball Cactus,Spring,United States

Distribution

Endemic to central Washington, Chelan to Yakima Counties.

Habitat

Often with sagebrush, desert valleys to low mountains.

References:

Some text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.

http://biology.burke.washington.edu/herbarium/imagecollection.php
http://www.pnwflowers.com/flower/pediocactus-simpsonii
Taxonomy
KingdomPlantae
DivisionAngiosperms
ClassEudicots
OrderCaryophyllales
FamilyCactaceae
GenusPediocactus
SpeciesPediocactus nigrispinus
Photographed in
United States of America