Echinocereus adustus

Echinocereus adustus is a species of cactus native to Mexico.

Description
Echinocereus adustus typically grows as a solitary cactus. Its shoots are depressed spherical to short cylindrical, reaching up to 19 cm long and 5 to 12 cm in diameter, with fibrous roots. It has 11 to 20 wavy, slightly tuberous ribs. The cactus may have up to nine dark brown to blackish central spines, up to 3.2 cm long, with the top spine being very short and the bottom spines spreading horizontally. It also has 8 to 31 white marginal spines with darker tips, up to 1.8 cm long, with the radial spines being the longest.

The short, funnel-shaped flowers are pink, appearing well below the shoot tips. They are 3 to 10 cm long and 4 to 7 cm in diameter, with white or very light green scars. The egg-shaped fruits are up to 2 cm long with falling thorns, and when ripe, they are almost dry and split vertically.

Subspecies
There are two recognized subspecies:

Distribution
Echinocereus adustus is found growing in sandy loam in grasslands in the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Durango at altitudes between 1800 to 2400 m.

Taxonomy
The species was first described by George Engelmann in 1848. The specific epithet "adustus" is Latin for "blackened" or "burnt," referring to the blackish spines of the cactus.