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

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

 

Sclerocactus whipplei

CACTUS ART
NURSERY

Cultivation and Mail Sale
of Cacti and Succulents.
 
 


Sclerocactus whipplei SB471 Apache County, Arizona, USA
The flower is large and light greenish-yellow.
 

Description: S. whipplei is a usually unbranched cactus (but sometime forms small cluster) with dense spines covering the stem. It is one of the more distinctive species, characterized by yellow flowers and flattened, somewhat daggerlike central spine directed toward the stem apex. Similar species are S. sileri, and the yellow-flowered populations of S. parviflorus, often referred to as subspecies S. terrae-canyonae . However, S. sileri and S. parviflorus lacks the daggerlike adaxial central spines.
Stem: 5 to 35 cm tall or more, depressed-globose, or spheric to elongate-cylindric.
Ribs: (8-)13 to 15 often spiralled, prominent, tubercles usually evident on ribs.
Roots: The root systems are fibrous and shallow unless deep water.
Spines: On seedlings all radials, but on old plants both radials and centrals.
Radial spines: Stouter the the radials, (5-)7-12 per areole, somewhat fattened, spreading or slightly recurved, white except for abaxial 2 that are usually purplish pink to black, (6-)12-25 mm long.
Central spines: 4(-5) per areole, terete to angled; The lowermost central spine 1 per areole, purplish pink or reddish brown, somewhat angled, hooked, 16-45(-55) long; lateral central spines 2 per areole, directed toward stem apex, purplish pink to white, 14-45 mm long; uppermost central spine white, usually flattened, straight, ribbonlike or dagger-shaped, 17-65(-70) long.
Flowers: 3 to 5 cm long, from near the the centre of the plant, often abundant, showy; funnelform to campanulate usually yellowish  (or sometime - var. roseus ?- light purple or pinkish); outer tepals with greenish or reddish midstripes and yellow margins, oblanceolate, to 24 × 5 mm; inner tepals yellow, oblanceolate, to 30 × 6 mm; tube very short, stamens numerous with yellow (or sometime lavender) filaments, anthers yellow; style puberulent; ovary minutely papillate, appearing smooth.  They are generally bisexual and are pollinated by insects.
Blooming season: April, May, June.
Fruits: Large dry or fleshy many-seeded berry, green to tan, almost naked, often reddish at maturity, ovoid, 10-25 × 6-15 mm, ; scales few, hyaline,scarious margined, minutely toothed, membranous-fringed, each bearing in its axil a small tuft of hairs. Seeds release from splits in the base of the fruit.
Seeds:
black, 2 × 2(-3) mm, shiny; , much more larger at the upper end than at the lower, testa with rounded papillae hylum large, lateral on the lower half of the seed.

 


Cultivation:
  Rarely seen in cultivation, needs perfect drainage, it is quite difficult to grow on its own roots and to propagate. Mature individuals easily rot and die.
It is indispensable to provide a greenhouse with good ventilation and a full sun exposure. Keep totally dry during winter; it can tolerate temperatures below zero (-20° C).
 Plants grafted on hardy Opuntia compressa stock are quite easy to grow and no special skill is required.
In the spring  fertilize periodically, adding a specific fertilizer. Fertilizers for succulent plants must be rich in potassium, but poor in nitrogen, to avoid the plants  developing excess vegetation, which is easily attacked by fungal diseases. Water moderately during the growing season, keeping the soil dry for a few days before watering again.

Propagation: Seeds are extremely difficult to germinate  (only 2-3 percent of seeds germinate) The germination is really difficult and if some seedling finally sprout, as they start to grows they disappear one by oneGrafting is often used to speed growth rate and to create a back-up for plants in collection.

 

Photo gallery: Alphabetical listing of Cactus and Succulent pictures published in this site.

Photo gallery SCLEROCACTUS


Advertising



 

Family: Cactaceae (Cactus Family)

Scientific name:  Sclerocactus whipplei (Engelmann et Bigelow) Britton & Rose
Published in: Cactaceae, 3:213, 1922.

Type: Bigelow s.n., Dec.3, 1853, MO. Colorado Chiquito (according to L.Benson, 1982) at Lithodendron Wash, a tributary of the Rio Puerco River, near the Colorado Chiquito, near Petrified Forest National Monument (MO; Isotype POM 317813).

Origin:   This plant occurs in Northern Arizona and at one location near Bluff, Southeastern Utah.

Conservation status: Listed in CITES appendix 2. 

Habitat: Gravely, sandy or clayey hills, canyon rims and mesas, desert grasslands, sagebrush or saltbush flats, desert shrub and pinyon-juniper communities. Elevation Range: 1,500 to 2,500 meters. It is usually found singly under small bushes and is easily overlooked except when in flower. This species is very cold hardy and withstand temperatures as low as minus 23° C. It is snow covered for several month in winter.

Common Name comprise: Whipple's fishhook cactus, Whipple's Cactus, Fishhook Cactus

Etymology: The genus name, “Sclerocactus”, is from the Greek “scleros” which means “hard” and “kaktos” which means “thistle” referring to the hard, sharp spines. The species name, “whipplei”, honors Amiel Wicks Whipple (1818-1863), an engineer for surveys of the United States/Mexico boundary in 1853-1856.

Synonyms

  • Echinocactus whipplei Engelmann et Bigelow
    In: Proc. Amer. Acad.3:271, 1857 (reprint 1856); US Senate Rept. Expl. & Surv. R. R. Route Pacific Ocean. Botany. 4:28 pl.1, 1857.
  • Ferocactus whipplei (Engelmann & J. M. Bigelow) N. P. Taylor
  • Pediocactus whipplei (Engelmann et Bigelow) Arp
    In: Arp, Cact. & Succt. J. (US) 44:222, 1972.
  • Sclerocactus whipplei var. pygmaeus Peebles
    In: Leafl. West. Bot.5:192, 1949.
  • Thelocactus whipplei

Some sources identify this species as Sclerocactus parviflorus.
 

 



Photo of conspecific taxa, varieties, forms and cultivars of
Sclerocactus whipplei.

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

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