Nylon Hedgehog Cactus

Echinocereus viridiflorus is a species of cactus known by the common names nylon hedgehog cactus, green pitaya, and small-flowered hedgehog cactus. It is native to the central and south-central United States and northern Mexico, where it can be found in varied habitat types, including desert scrub, woodlands, dry grasslands, and short-grass prairie.^[3]

This cactus has a small spherical to ovoid, sometimes elongated or cylindrical in shape, stem 3 cm (1.2 in) to over 30 cm (12 in) tall and up to 1 to 9 cm (0.39 to 3.54 in) wide. The 6 to 18 ribs are clearly humps. It is mostly unbranched but it may occur in squat clusters of several branches. The body of the plant is ridged and lined with many areoles bearing spines. The spines may be red, yellow, white, purplish, or bicolored, sometimes with darker tips and are up to 2.5 cm (0.98 in) long. The 8 to 24 marginal spines are also red, cream or brown and up to 1.8 cm (0.71 in) long. The flower is up to 3 cm (1.2 in) long and has tepals in shades of yellowish, brownish, greenish, or occasionally red, with darker reddish midstripes. The tepals are thin at the tips. They are usually wide open, funnel-shaped and green to yellow-green. They are 2.5 to 3.0 cm (0.98 to 1.18 in) long and large in diameter. The fruits are spherical, green and heavily thorny.^[3][4]