Clumping, mounding hedgehog cactus with long spines and magenta flowers. Stems reach about 3 inches in diameter and clumps may grow to over 3 feet wide, with hundreds of heads in old age. 10-17 ribs. 1-4 central spines and 7-14 radial spines, all turning whitish with age. Fleshy, edible red fruit.
From New Mexico, Texas, and a few states in north-central Mexico (south to Durango). A former subspecies from the southwest of this range (only in Durango) is now its own species:
Pitaya (Echinocereus occidentalis subsp. occidentalis).
