Echinomastus Species

Per Jan Emming owner of the Destination:Forever Ranch and Gardens, a 40 acre desert botanical garden and sustainable living homestead in ...Read Morethe Arizona desert with a nursery:


While out and about taking Opuntia basilaris photos in early April I also came across a couple of yellow-flowering plants of Echinomastus johnsonii, the Mojave pineapple cactus. Most plants of this species have magenta-pink flowers, but yellow ones occur sporadically, and I believe that some may even appear as almost white on rare occasions. I have heard of yellow populations of this cactus being called Echinomastus johnsonii var luteus, but I don't know if that is truly a valid designation since flower colors are seldom genetically stable and distinct enough to merit separating them from the main species as a variety. The several plants I found were large, standing over a foot tall (30 cm). Few seedlings or juvenile plants were found, unfortunately, which may well be a function of trampling by the hooves of cattle in the heavily-grazed area where these adults were located.