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Sclerocactus wetlandicus SB 1323 Uintah County,
Utah, USA
A plant grafted on Opuntia compressa.
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Description: Usually solitary or occasionally clumping, in groups of
up to 9 stems.
Stem: Green to bluish green (glaucous) spheric, cylindric, or
elongate-cylindric, 3-8.5(-15) × 4-10(-12) cm,;
Ribs: 12-14(-15) tubercles evident on ribs.
Areoles: 3 mm in diameter, 9-10 mm apart. Red nectar glands are
found above each areole.
Spines: slightly or not obscuring stems.
Radial spines: 6-10(or more) per areole, white pale tan, brown,
reddish brown (rarely black), 6-20 mm; central spines 3--5 per areole,
sometimes not greatly different from radial spines; straight and
unhooked or curved (rarely hooked), 12-26 mm long.
Central spines: Usually white (rarely light brown),15-29 mm long.
Some specimens lack central spines, or have central spines which are
hooked.
Flowers: Purple or pink flowers fragrant, funnel-form, 2,5-5 cm
wide and tall; outer tepals with brownish lavender midstripes and pink
to violet margins, filaments green to white; anthers yellow.
Fruits: Ovoid, barrel-shaped, 9-30 × 7-12 mm, with a few
membranous scales, mostly near apex.
Seeds: Black, 1.5 × 2.5 mm; cells convex but flattened apically.
Blooming season: Late Apr-May.
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Photo of conspecific taxa, varieties, forms and
cultivars of plants belonging to the
sclerocactus glaucus
complex
(This
Taxon
has several of synonyms
(
like many other cacti), with controversial varieties and subspecies,
and comprises different forms, but where each form
is linked to others by populations of plants with intermediate
characteristics):
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Family:
Cactaceae (Cactus
Family) |
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Scientific name: Sclerocactus
wetlandicus Hochstätter ssp. wetlandicus
Published in: Succulenta (Netherlands).
68: 123, figs. s.n. (upper row, p. 124). 1989.
Conservation status: Listed in
CITES appendix 1.
Common Names include:
- Uinta basin hookless cactus
Sclerocactus wetlandicus is
morphologically very similar to S. glaucus and
has been frequently
treated within S. glaucous, but the two
populations are geographically separated and Phylogenetic analyses of
chloroplast DNA are ambiguous regarding the closest relative of S.
wetlandicus. However, this species is related to S.
brevispinus, S. glaucus, S. wrightiae,
S. whipplei, and S. parviflorus. We refer to
this species as the Sclerocactus glaucus complex. |
Synonyms:
- Pediocactus wetlandicus (Hochstätter)
Halda
- Sclerocactus glaucus
- Sclerocactus glaucus ssp. wetlandicus
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Origin: Duchesne and Uintah counties,
Utah.
Habitat:
Gravel-covered clay hills, desert grasslands,
saltbush, rabbit brush flats; of conservation concern; 1300-1500 m.
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Cultivation:
This plant
is very rare in cultivation; it
does not do
well.
It is very difficult
to grow its own roots. Mature individuals easily rot and die, especially after planting.
It is extremely
xerophytic and adapted to very dry soils, but plant grafted an hardy
Opuntia compressa
stock are very easy to grow and no special skill is required, they
can stay in a non heated green house or outdoors in
raised beds,
terraces,
window sills etc..
This cactus continues to be, a particular prize
among collectors.
Propagation: The seeds germinate with extreme
difficulty and a low rate of success. Seedlings did not do well either,
and more die each year. |
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Cultivation
and Mail Sale 
