Echinocereus viridiflorus

Echinocereus viridiflorus, Prairie Hedgehog Cactus or Green-Flowered Hedgehog Cactus is a small, charming, cylindrical Echinocereus, often branching from the base to form a clump and having distinctive yellow-green flowers that are slightly fragrant. It starts flowering early in the Spring, usually around mid to late March and will often keep producing flowers through until June. It has relatively wide ribs for its miniature size and the chalky white spines show a distinctive reddish-brown colour particularly when young and around the growing apex. It has a wide range across the midwest of the the USA from the cold prairie grasslands of Wyoming and the plains of South Dakota down through oak woodlands in the foothills of the Rockies and the desert scrub and semidesert grasslands of Texas and across the border into the arid plains of Chihuahua and Coahuila. It is one of the most cold-hardy of all the Echinocereus and will withstand sub-zero temperatures down to -20C in its natural habitat. However, in a typical consistently wet UK winter a healthy caution should be applied to outdoor expectations and only a very gritty free-draining mineral substrate should be used. It also makes a trouble-free houseplant for a sunny position and should be given a spell outdoors in the summer to encourage healthy growth.