Cochemiea palmeri

Cochemiea palmeri is a species of Cochemiea found in Mexico.

Description

Cochemiea palmeri grows in groups with gray-green, elongated spherical shoots reaching in height and in diameter. The square-based, bluntly conical warts lack milky juice. The axillae are covered with white wool and short, twisted bristles. The plant has 3 to 5 straight or occasionally hooked central spines, brownish with dark tips, measuring long, and 25 to 30 slender, needle-like radial spines, white and long.
The flowers are light greenish-white or light cream-colored, sometimes with a pink touch, and measure across. The scarlet red, club-shaped fruits are up to long and contain black seeds.

Distribution

Cochemiea palmeri is native to the Mexican state of Baja California, specifically on the islands of San Benito and Guadalupe from sea level to 300 meters growing along Dudleya linearis and Deinandra streetsii.

Taxonomy

Originally described as Cactus palmeri by John Merle Coulter in 1894, the species was named in honor of botanist and archaeologist Edward Palmer. In 2021, Peter B. Breslin and Lucas C. Majure reclassified it into the genus Cochemiea.