Barrel Cactus

Below are two pics taken earlier this month at the Valley of Fire State Park
in Nevada. This Barrel Cactus was the only one we noticed at this park and
was located on the Western slope, back hiking trail of White Domes. There
were several examples of this Cactus at the Red Rock Canyon visitor center
but those examples did not have the overall quality of color or the absolute
glimmer this one had. I had no previous interest in Cactus but this plant
"knocked me and my hiking companion out" when we saw it. What does not
show up on the pics is that the dirt (sand) was well formed around the base
of this Cactus giving the impression that it had just popped out of the
ground quite recently. In both of the images you can still see remnants of
fine sandstone which appear to be as globular clusters on the Cactus.

What I would like to know is, what is the classification for this Cactus? It
appears not to be quite right for a Ferocactus cylindraceus var. eastwoodiae
or a Ferocactus cylindraceus var. tortulispinus and is not quite the same plant
as the general Ferocactus cylindraceus (formerly F. acanthodes) either.

Thanks for your help,

Jim

 

Jim,

I, too, just returned from Valley of Fire. I was greatly taken with the barrel cactus and wondered if I can purchase same anywhere? I have a backyard pond and would love to have some of these around the perimeter. Aren't they beautiful? This is my first venture into cacti and could any information available.

ConnieJean

 

A note to readers responding to ConnieJean's request for a source of the barrel cactus:
Please respond in the internal Sourcing Plants forum.

 

Resembles a picture of a hedgehog cactus that my brother-in-law once sent to me, genus Echinocereus. It was a great basin species from central WA. Following that up I found the following genus Echinocactus, species E. polyancistrus, or pineapple cactus that somewhat resembles your picture. Might be worth further search of the genus in any case.

Harry

 

This one is a Ferocactus cylindraceus. There are some
areas that made us feel this one was not the same plant
that we saw at the Red Rock Canyon visitor center. This
Cactus is not quite the same in color and in the shape of
the Cliff Cactus that we hiked up to look at in Valley of
Fire after seeing this one to compare to. The spines on
this particular plant are wider at the base than the others
and has a more pronounced stripping (indented ribs) of
silvery blue color running from the base almost to the tip.
The ribs were present on the others but the blue color was
absent on both other forms we saw. What we were not
sure about was the color of the central spines being almost
a florescent silvery blue. We contemplated whether the
color had such lustre due to the age of the Cactus or due
to the likelihood that it did indeed just pop out of the
ground. Of which the latter may seem ridiculous to
some people and it did to us also but at the time we did
not know what to make of this plant based on its color
compared to all the others we saw later that day and the
next. By the looks of the plant it did appear to have just
popped out of the ground relatively soon before we saw
it based on the sandstone evidence on the Cactus in clumps
as well as how built up the sandstone was underneath this
Cactus. Another area that we felt was different was in
the rows of spines in that the native species form and the
Cliff Cactus both had the spines placed in distinct vertical
rows with a slight right hand twist whereas this one had
a right handed (going right to left) swirl pattern instead
(vertical row pattern versus a swirl pattern). Also, the tips
of the spines were not sharp but had a dulled point on the
end of them. I ran my hand over the top of this plant to
test it. Crazy of me I know but I was in exploratory mode
with a new toy. I suspected the tips were not nearly as
sharp as others might think or as sharp as the other similar
Cactus we saw later. Let's put it this way, I did not try to
run my hand over the Beavertail Cactus we both (Günter
and I) photographed at Valley of Fire right outside the
park ranger's station or the Hedgehog Cactus we saw at
the Red Rock Canyon visitor center.

Jim