''Sclerocactus wrightiae'' is a rare species of

cactus A cactus (: cacti, cactuses, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae (), a family of the order Caryophyllales comprising about 127 genera with some 1,750 known species. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, ...

known by the common names Wright's little barrel cactus and Wright's fishhook cactus. Dr. Lyman Benson named this species for North American cactus expert Dorde Wright Woodruff, who initially discovered it in 1961 and brought it to the attention of Dr. Benson. Dr. Benson and Ms. Woodruff later collaborated in connection with other ''Sclerocactus'' taxa in the Intermountain West.

Distribution

It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

in the United States, where it is known only from Emery, Sevier, Wayne, and Garfield Counties.USFWS
''Sclerocactus wrightiae'' Five-year Review.
August 2008. It occurs at

Capitol Reef National Park Capitol Reef National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States in south-central Utah. The park is approximately long on its northsouth axis and just wide on average. The park was established in ...

and the

San Rafael Swell The San Rafael Swell is a large geologic feature located in south-central Utah, United States about west of Green River. Measuring approximately , the swell consists of a giant dome-shaped anticline of sandstone, shale, and limestone that wa ...

.''Sclerocactus wrightiae''.
Flora of North America. It is numerous threats and is federally listed as an

endangered species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

of the United States (listed under the

Endangered Species Act The Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA; 16 U.S.C. § 1531 et seq.) is the primary law in the United States for protecting and conserving imperiled species. Designed to protect critically imperiled species from extinction as a "consequence of e ...

on October 11, 1979). This plant grows in shrublands on a specific type of

soil Soil, also commonly referred to as earth, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, water, and organisms that together support the life of plants and soil organisms. Some scientific definitions distinguish dirt from ''soil'' by re ...

. It is usually fine or sandy in texture and there is a large amount of material scattered on the land, including pebbles,

gravel Gravel () is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally on Earth as a result of sedimentation, sedimentary and erosion, erosive geological processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone. Gr ...

, and

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

oyster Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but no ...

shells. An important component of the substrate is the cryptobiotic crust that lies on top. The cactus is absent from areas where this crust has been destroyed.

Description

''Sclerocactus wrightiae'' has stems 4–12 cm tall that are depressed-hemispheric to obovoid to short-cylindric (but not becoming tall-cylindric). Flowers are 2 to 3.5 cm long, yellowish to white or pink. Filaments are red-violet. Flower buds are reddish-brown and rounded prior to anthesis and elongating and becoming pointed just prior to flowering as with other smaller species of ''Scerocactus''.Utah Native Plant Society. 2003-2015 ited August 19, 2015 Utah rare plant guide. nternet Frates AJ, editor/coordinator. Salt Lake City, UT: Utah Native Plant Society. Available from: http://www.utahrareplants.org

Conservation

Threats to the species include damage to the habitat during

hydrocarbon exploration Hydrocarbon exploration (or oil and gas exploration) is the search by petroleum geologists and geophysicists for hydrocarbon deposits, particularly petroleum and natural gas, in the Earth's crust using petroleum geology. Exploration methods ...

and the mining of

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

gypsum Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate Hydrate, dihydrate, with the chemical formula . It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, drywall and blackboard or sidewalk ...

bentonite Bentonite ( ) is an Absorption (chemistry), absorbent swelling clay consisting mostly of montmorillonite (a type of smectite) which can either be Na-montmorillonite or Ca-montmorillonite. Na-montmorillonite has a considerably greater swelli ...

and bentonite

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

uranium Uranium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Ura ...

vanadium Vanadium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol V and atomic number 23. It is a hard, silvery-grey, malleable transition metal. The elemental metal is rarely found in nature, but once isolated artificially, the formation of an ...

, building stone and gravel.

Livestock Livestock are the Domestication, domesticated animals that are raised in an Agriculture, agricultural setting to provide labour and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, Egg as food, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The t ...

activity, such as trampling and uprooting of plants, may be a threat.

Off-road vehicle An off-road vehicle (ORV), also known as an off-highway vehicle (OHV), overland vehicle or adventure vehicle, is a type of transportation specifically engineered to navigate unpaved roads and surfaces. These include trails, forest roads, and ...

use causes damage.

Poaching Poaching is the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights. Poaching was once performed by impoverished peasants for subsistence purposes and to supplement meager diets. It was set against the huntin ...

is also a significant problem. The cactus also suffers from natural predation by the

beetle Beetles are insects that form the Taxonomic rank, order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 40 ...

'' Moneilema semipunctatum'' which has been exacerbated by climate change. Small mammals such as

Ord's kangaroo rat Ord's kangaroo rat (''Dipodomys ordii'') is a kangaroo rat native to western North America, specifically the Great Plains and the Great Basin, with its range extending from extreme southern Canada to central Mexico. Ord's kangaroo rat has a fi ...

(''Dipodomys ordii'') and

White-tailed antelope squirrel The white-tailed antelope squirrel (''Ammospermophilus leucurus'') is a diurnal species of ground squirrel, scientifically classified in the order Rodentia and family Sciuridae, found in arid regions of the southwestern United States and the Ba ...

(''Ammospermophilus leucurus'') may eat the cactus.

References

External links

USDA Plants Profile for ''Sclerocactus wrightiae''The Nature Conservancy: ''Sclerocactus wrightiae''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q289877 wrightiae Cacti of the United States Flora of Utah Endemic flora of the United States Emery County, Utah Sevier County, Utah Wayne County, Utah Garfield County, Utah Endangered flora of the United States