Cochemiea wrightii

Cochemiea wrightii is a species of Cochemiea found in Mexico and the southern United States.

Description

Cochemiea wrightii grows as a solitary cactus with dark green, flattened, spherical to briefly cylindrical shoots measuring in diameter. The cylindrical warts do not produce milky juice, and the axillae are bare. It has up to 3 dark, hooked central spines, each long. There are also up to 12 whitish marginal spines, 8 to 12 millimeters long, with the upper ones being shorter and dark-tipped.
The flowers are magenta to bright purple, rarely white, and up to long and wide, with perianth segments that are reflexed. The egg-shaped to spherical fruits are purple, up to long, and contain black seeds.

Distribution

Cochemiea wrightii is found in the US states of Arizona and New Mexico, and in the Mexican states of Sonora and Chihuahua at elevations of. Plants are found growing in sandy hills and grasslands growing among Echinocereus polyacanthus and Cochemiea saboae subsp. haudeana.

Subspecies

Accepted subspecies:

Taxonomy

The species was first described as Mammillaria wrightii by George Engelmann in 1856. The specific epithet honors American botanist Charles Wright, who researched Texas and Cuba. In 2000, Alexander Borissovitch Doweld reclassified the species into the genus Cochemiea.