I know that it's an Echinocereus (maybe) but what species? I found both of these photos on the CalPhotos website (elib.cs.calphotos.edu), they were easier to get up online then getting my own analogs converted, and they are as good as any I have taken. In the second photo, notice the spine pattern of the top of the barrel... I actually have about 50 of these, with maybe 10 being what I would call full grown. The "mature" size of the "barrel" at plus/minus 10 years is about two feet tall and six to seven inches in diameter. Even at two to three inches tall these cacti put out the bloom pictured, that is about 10 to 16 inches in length and 5 to 8 inches in diameter across the mouth of the trumpet. It blooms at night, for one night and smells wonderful. Some of the blooms are pure white, some suffused with a small amout of pink others down right pinkish (as in the photos), variations are not on the same plant, but all 50 or so came from the same "mother plant" and show this variation in color. I often torture a few plants by bringing them inside and placing them in a very dark place where they will keep the flowers for 2 to 3 days, and smell the whole house up. I once had three plants inside at the same time, with a total of 26 flowers open...that was too much...at that concentration, the scent was way too strong. Lastly, I live in mountains of northern California and keep majority of the littler ones outside this last winter under plastic (mostly to keep the rain off) and they seem like they made it, most are preparing to bloom. Anyways, I am trying to figure out what it is because I want to know if it is hardy outside...and all those questions. Thanks to anyone who could help with this. raichael
More thinking... It looks like there is the possiblity that it could be a Echinopsis or Lobavia instead... The thing that gets me is the arrangement of the stamens and pistil, in most Echinocereus that I was looking at the stamens circle the pistil completely and the filaments are short and straight, but as you can see in the pictures this is not the case in "mine". I did however come across a devoted website that I will look through exhaustively. http://www.echinocereus.de/
