Cochemiea wrightii

Cochemiea wrightii is a species of Cochemiea found in Mexico and the southern United States.^[2]

Cochemiea wrightii
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Order:	Caryophyllales
Family:	Cactaceae
Subfamily:	Cactoideae
Genus:	Cochemiea
Species:	C. wrightii
Binomial name
Cochemiea wrightii (Engelm.) Doweld 2000
Synonyms
Cactus wrightii (Engelm.) Kuntze 1891 Chilita wrightii (Engelm.) Orcutt 1926 Ebnerella wrightii (Engelm.) Buxb. 1951 Fimbriatocactus wrightii (Engelm.) Guiggi 2023 Mammillaria wrightii Engelm. 1856 Neomammillaria wrightii (Engelm.) Britton & Rose 1923

Description

Cochemiea wrightii grows as a solitary cactus with dark green, flattened, spherical to briefly cylindrical shoots measuring 3 to 8 cm (1.2 to 3.1 in) in diameter. The cylindrical warts do not produce milky juice, and the axillae are bare. It has up to 3 dark, hooked central spines, each 1 to 1.2 cm (0.39 to 0.47 in) long. There are also up to 12 whitish marginal spines, 8 to 12 millimeters long, with the upper ones being shorter and dark-tipped.

The flowers are magenta to bright purple, rarely white, and up to 2.5 cm (0.98 in) long and wide, with perianth segments that are reflexed. The egg-shaped to spherical fruits are purple, up to 2.5 cm (0.98 in) long, and contain black seeds.^[3]

• 
  Fruit
• 
  Flower

Distribution

Cochemiea wrightii is found in the US states of Arizona and New Mexico, and in the Mexican states of Sonora and Chihuahua at elevations of 1,000 to 2,200 m (3,300 to 7,200 ft). Plants are found growing in sandy hills and grasslands growing among Echinocereus polyacanthus and Cochemiea saboae subsp. haudeana.^[4]

Taxonomy

The species was first described as Mammillaria wrightii by George Engelmann in 1856.^[5] The specific epithet honors American botanist Charles Wright, who researched Texas and Cuba.^[6] In 2000, Alexander Borissovitch Doweld reclassified the species into the genus Cochemiea.