Range

Sonoran Desert of southeastern California, Arizona and New Mexico to western Texas and northern Mexico.

Habitat

Dry, gravely desert slopes, often under bushes below 4,500 feet.

Flowers

Bright flowers, 1 inch wide and composed of many petals, bloom April and May.

Description

A low, cylindrical cactus with one or many thick-clustered stems grows to 6 inches high. Many hooked spines, 1/2-inch long at the tips of nipples, are surrounded by numerous, straight, tan-to-pink ones. The Fishhook Cactus has extended, smooth, red fruit 1/2 to 1 inches long. Not to be confused with the Fishhook Barrel Cactus (Ferocactus wislizenii) of the Chihuahuan Desert.

Also called:

• Pincushion Cactus
• Corkseed Cactus
• Nipple Cactus
• Fishhook Mammillaria
• Cabeza del Viejo

-- A.R Royo