''Cochemiea grahamii'' is a 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, ...
also known by the names Arizona fishhook cactus
and Graham's nipple cactus.
Description
''Cochemiea grahamii'' grows either solitary or branching from the base, with thickened roots and hooked stems. Its spherical to short cylindrical light green shoots reach heights of , sometimes more, and have diameters of . The plant has cylindrical to egg-shaped, often square, warts that lack milky juice, with naked axillae. It has 1 to 4 central spines that are yellowish-brown to dark brown, measuring long, with the longest usually being hooked. There are also 20 to 35 straight, needle-like marginal spines, white to light brown or reddish, long.
This cactus has flowers pink or lavender in April and May.
The flowers range from lavender-pink to reddish purple, sometimes white, and are in diameter. The almost spherical, red fruits are long and contain black seeds.
Distribution
''Cochemiea grahamii'' is found in
Arizona
Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...
,
California
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
,
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...
, and
Texas
Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
in the United States,
and in Sonora, Sinaloa, and Chihuahua in Mexico at elevations of 200 to 1800 meters growing in dry habitat of gravel or grassland, desert mountains, sandy or rocky canyons, washes and plains on igneous or limestone substrate.
Plants are found growing among ''
Larrea tridentata
''Larrea tridentata'', called creosote bush, greasewood, and chaparral is a medicinal herb. In Sonora, it is more commonly called ''hediondilla''; Spanish ''hediondo'' = "smelly". It is a flowering plant in the family Zygophyllaceae. The specific ...
'' or in grasslands.
Saguaro National Park
Saguaro National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States in southeastern Arizona. The park consists of two separate areas—the Tucson Mountain District (TMD), about west of Tucson, Arizona, T ...
File:Mammillaria grahamii - Flickr - aspidoscelis.jpg, Plant growing in Luna County, New Mexico
Taxonomy
Originally described as ''Mammillaria grahamii'' by
George Engelmann
George Engelmann, also known as Georg Engelmann, (2 February 1809 – 4 February 1884) was a German-American botanist. He was instrumental in describing the flora (plants), flora of the west of North America, then very poorly known to Europeans; ...
in 1856, the specific epithet honors American topographer Colonel James Duncan Graham (1799–1865), who led the scientific corps surveying the US-Mexico border.
Alexander Borissovitch Doweld reclassified the species to the genus ''Cochemiea'' in 2000.
References
External links
*
*
Calflora Database: ''Mammillaria grahamii''
{{Taxonbar, from1=Q93343678, from2=Q288931
grahamii
Cacti of Mexico
Cacti of the United States
Flora of the California desert regions
Flora of the Chihuahuan Desert
Flora of the Sonoran Deserts
Flora of Arizona
Flora of Baja California
Flora of New Mexico
Flora of Sonora
Flora of Texas
Natural history of the Colorado Desert
North American desert flora
Plants described in 2000