Echinocereus coccineus
Echinocereus coccineus
Safety & Hazards
There are conflicting reports on edibility and toxicity for this species. There are some that say the fruit is edible, having a white pulp with a strawberry-like flavour[ 270 Title Flora of N. America Publication Author Website http://flora.huh.harvard.edu/fna/ Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description An on-line version of the flora with an excellent description of the plant including a brief mention of plant uses. ], whilst another report says that some Native Americans considered the fruit of this species to be poisonous and only used it medicinally[ 1839 Title Use and Nutritional Composition of some Traditional Mountain Pima Plant Foods Publication J. Ethnobiol. 11(1):93-114 Summer 1991 Author Laferriere J.E.; Weber C.W. & Kohlhepp E.A. Publisher Year 1991 ISBN Description ].
Botanical Description
Echinocereus coccineus is a spiny, evergreen, succulent, perennial cactus with cylindrical stems. Many-branched from the base, it forms clumps or compact mounds of usually 20 - 100 cylindrical stems, exceptionally up to 500 stems; the stems are around 5 - 40cm tall and 4 - 15cm in diameter, forming a clump that can be more than 100cm wide[ 1987 Title The Cactus Family Publication Author Anderson E.F. Publisher Timber Press; Portland, Oregon Year 2001 ISBN 0-88192-498-9 Description An excellent work, giving botanical descriptions of virtually all the cacti, together with their range (but not their habitats) and sometimes also a photo. it also contains a long chapter detailing the many uses of cacti and another on cultivation.. ]. The plant is harvested from the wild for local use as a food and a medicine. It is often grown as an ornamental. Echinocereus coccineus has a very large extent of occurrence, is abundant, and there are no major threats. The plant is classified as 'Least Concern' in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species(2017)[ 338 Title IUCN Red List of Threatened Species Publication Author Website http://www.iucnredlist.org/ Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description A list of plants under threat and facing possible extinction, usually with brief details of the threats and information on habitat. ].