About Echinocereus sciurus (K.Brandegee) Britton & Rose
Echinocereus sciurus grows in a groundcover-like habit, forming clusters that can reach up to 60 cm (24 inches) wide. Its slender shoots often grow up to 20 cm (7.9 inches) long, and are almost completely hidden by numerous thorns. This species has 12 to 17 low ribs, which are divided into tubercles spaced 5 to 6 mm (0.20 to 0.24 inches) apart. It bears 15 to 18 slender radial spines, which are pale with brownish tips, arranged in a circle around small areoles. Several shorter central spines are present, one of which is brown and sloping. The funnel-shaped flowers range from light to deep purple-pink, growing up to 7 cm (2.8 inches) long and 9 cm (3.5 inches) in diameter. The flowers have numerous stamens with greenish filaments and a green stigma. Echinocereus sciurus is distributed in the Sonoran Desert of Baja California Sur and Sinaloa, Mexico, growing at elevations between 10 and 200 meters. It grows alongside the cactus and succulent species Pachycereus pringlei, Stenocereus thurberi, Lophocereus schottii, Ferocactus townsendianus, Echinocereus barthelowianus, Peniocereus johnstonii, Stenocereus gummosus, Cochemiea schumannii, Cochemiea armillata, and Mammillaria peninsularis.
