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Escobaria hesteri
(Syn:
Coryphantha hesteri)

CACTUS ART
NURSERY

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Escobaria hesteri
 It is an attractive and well worth cultivating dwarf plant; it starts flowering from an early age and blooms from spring until late summer, with nice large, deep pink blooms. In the resting period it will not be damaged by some frost.
 

Remarks: Escobaria hesteri and E. minima (From an adjacent hill) are two miniature plant which resemble dwarf races of E. vivipara, to wich they shares some characteristic, but much smaller in all parts. They can survive to –25°C in dry-winter regions.

 

Taxon synonyms

  • Coryphantha hesteri Y. Wright
    Cact. Succ. Journ. (US), 4 : 274, fig. (p. 273). 1932
  • Mammillaria hesteri (Y. Wright) D. Weniger, nom. nud.

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Photo gallery ESCOBARIA


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Family: Cactaceae (Cactus Family)
 

Scientific name:  Escobaria hesteri (Y. Wright) Buxbaum
In: Osterr. Bot. Zeitschr. 98. 78, 1951
(Often misspelled as "hester", "hesterii" or "esteri")

Origin: Southwestern USA, Texas: It is endemic to a small area in the maraton basin (Brewster County) and west of Sanderson (Terrel county)

Habitat: Semidesert grasslands and oak-juniper-pinyon woodlands on dry, gravely limestone hills, alluvial fans, rock crevices, and often on outcrops of novaculite (a hard, fine-grained, silica-rich rock) , sandstone, limestone and several other types of sedimentary and igneous substrates. Elevational range is 1200-1600 metres. No significant differences have been reported in plant from the different substrates.

Conservation status: Listed in CITES appendix 2.

Common Names include: Hester’s pincushion cactus, Hester’s foxtail cactus.

Etymology: In honour of J. Pinckney Hester, writer on succulents, who discovered the taxon in 1930 nearby Alpine, Texas.

 

 


Description:
It is a dwarf cactus unbranched, except in old age, ultimately offsetting to form clusters & eventually, low many-stemmed mounds 5-20(-30) cm diameter.
Stems: Short stubby egg-shaped up to 4 cm wide, not obscured by spines when hydrated, obscured when desiccated. In nature the stem is deep-seated in the soil, the aerial aerial parts are inconspicuous, flat-topped to hemispheric (to ovoid or spheric in horticulture), almost completely withdrawing into substrate when desiccated, 5-9 × 1.5-4.5 cm, above-ground portion 1-6.5; tubercles 5-9 × 4-6 mm; areolar glands absent.
Roots: Short, fleshy, enlarged taproots merging with the stem.
Spines: 5-20 per areole, all radial ± equal, with the upper 1-3 sometime interpreted as central. Very thin & white with brown tips (quickly weathering to grey) creating a decorative starry effect against the deep green stems; Appressed, straight, laterally compressed at base, 6-13 mm long;

Central spines: Usually absent (occasionally up to 3 up to 13 mm long).
Flowers: Small but showy near the top of the stems (18-25 long × 20-34 mm in diameter) , gorgeous deep rose-purple to magenta with a paler throat. Outer tepals fringed; inner tepals 22-27 per flower proximally paler, 10-17 × 2-4 mm; outer filaments colourless or white to rose; anthers orange-yellow; stigma lobes 5-6, white, cream, or pale pink, 1-3 mm.
Blooming season: A prolific bloomer, it blooms intermittently in spring & occasionally in summer and autumn.
Fruits green, spherical or obovoid, 5-8 × 3-6 mm, quickly drying; floral remnant usually persistent. Fruiting August-October or in January.
Seeds
dark brown, spheric, 0.9-1.1 mm, pitted.


Cultivation:
Very slow-growing, but
easy to cultivate.  Water regularly in summer, but do not over-water.   It prefers a completely dry place during winter with much drainage. An unheated greenhouse would be perfect. It can survive low temperatures (approx. -12 C). Full sun to light shade

Propagation: Easy to propagate from seed, cuttings and grafting.

Home | E-mail | Plant files | Mail Sale Catalogue | Links | Information | Search

All the information and photos in cactus art file are now available also in the new the Enciclopedia of Cacti. We hope you find this new site informative and useful.