|
Yellow Pincushion Cactus
Escobaria missouriensis (Sweet) D.R. Hunt
Synonym: Coryphantha missouriensis, Mamillaria missouriensis
|
Family: Cactaceae,
Cactus
Genus: Escobaria
Description
General: perennial, stems usually 1, spherical or almost
so, up to 5 cm tall, covered with many fleshy, nipple-like,
spirally arranged tubercles that are
nearly cylindrical
except for 8 grooves. A cluster of rigid spines grow radiate,
spreading and flat, from an area
called the aerole at the tip
of each tubercle. Each cluster
has 1 main spine 9-12 mm
long and 10-20 smaller,
slender
marginal spines, the
spines are all white.
 Leaves: none.
 Flowers: about 2.5 cm long, greenish-yellow or dull
whitish to sometimes reddish-tinged, with many pointed
petals, spreading to more or less upright. Flowers solitary
at the base of the groove on the inner side of the mature
tubercles somewhat back from the stem tip. The ovary is
not spine-tipped.
Flowering time: June-July.
 Fruits: berries, somewhat fleshy, almost spherical, less
than 1 cm long, pale green, eventually somewhat reddish.
Distribution
Valleys and hills of the desert and grasslands, in w., c.
and n.e. parts of MT. Also
mainly e. of the Rocky Mts.,
from
Manitoba to KS, CO and c. ID.
Edible plant, see below.
|
|
|
|
(click on image for full size)
|
|
Edible Uses:
Pincushion cactus fruits are juicy, sweet and edible, and they do not require peeling. They were eaten as a confection by the Blackfoot Indians. The fleshy inner pulp of the stems can provide an emergency source of liquid.
Varieties:
Our specimen belong to var. missouriensis (Sweet) D.R. Hunt. |
|
|
Copyright © Plant-Life.org
|
|
