Fishhook Barrel
Ferocactus wislizenii
Photo taken at White Canyon Wilderness, Mineral Mountains, Pinal Co. Arizona by Mike Plagens. This image is hosted at full resolution on Wikipedia
Fishhook Barrel Cactus (Ferocactus wislizenii) fruit at Vail, Arizona, USA. Date: February 6, 2005 by John Owens. This image is also hosted at Wikipedia.
SUCCULENT: Columnar stem one to three meters
tall, usu. not branched or clumped. The column has about two dozen verticle
ribs and is roughly ½ to ¾
m dia.
ARMED. Spine clusters are characteristic: One heavy, strongly hooked,
central spine, three additional slightly less sturdy straight spines, and then
a corona of 16 or so fine flexible spines. The spines may be tinged red or ashy
gray in color.
FLOWERS/FRUIT: Deep orange to red flowers clustered at apex of column
appear in August. Mature fruit late Aug. to Oct. is yellow.
RANGE: Rocky slopes in Upland Sonoran Scrub from southeast of Phoenix
and especially near Tucson, Arizona. Also at Organ Pipe National Monument and
in Sonora, Mexico. Ranges east into the Chihuahuan Desert.
LEAVES: Without leaves although there are usu. some scarious leaf-like
bracts about the flower/fruit buds.