Fishhook Cactus

Mammillaria microcarpa

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 the cactus, 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: