About Echinocereus enneacanthus Engelm.
Echinocereus enneacanthus Engelm. forms low cushions made up of 30 to 200 individual shoots. Its cloudy to light green cylindrical shoots are prostrate except for their tips, growing up to two meters (6 ft 7 in) long and measuring 3.5 to 15 cm (1.4 to 5.9 in) in diameter. This species has seven to ten ribs that are not clearly tuberculated. It produces one to four central spines, which are straight or curved, round to flattened, angular or furrowed, and range in color from yellowish to brownish or bluish. These central spines can reach up to 8 cm (3.1 in) in length. There are also six to 13 straight marginal spines, colored whitish to brownish, that grow up to 4 cm (1.6 in) long. The species bears funnel-shaped magenta flowers with darker throats. Flowers emerge below the shoot tips, growing up to 8 cm (3.1 in) long and reaching a diameter of 8 to 12 cm (3.1 to 4.7 in). The spherical to egg-shaped fruits contain pink flesh and have a strawberry-like flavor. Echinocereus enneacanthus is distributed in the U.S. states of Texas and New Mexico, and also occurs in northeast Mexico across the states of Sonora, Chihuahua, Durango, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosí, Coahuila, and Zacatecas, at elevations between 0 and 1800 meters. It grows in limestone soil in grasslands, alongside Echinocereus stramineus, Echinocereus chisoensis, Echinocereus dasyacanthus, Mammillaria lasiacantha, Lophophora diffusa, and Neolloydia conoidea.
