and Ross Valley Nursery
E. hermentiana
Lots of tight vertical branches, leafy; green with white patterning with a hint of red will turn bright red in sun. Can grow to 8 to 12ft tall, but can be kept below 8ft indoor in a pot with very low watering, good sun, and not too much fertilizer.
The barrel cacti of the North American deserts, globose to cylindrical forms.
Solitary barrel with vibrant red spines. Slow growing, densely spined. 12 inch diameter, eventually growing 3ft tall. Keep dry in winter.
Large barrel to 40″d; blooms young; hooked spines
Solitary or multistemmed globular barrels to 20″d. Bluish hue, flattened top, brownish-yellow recurved spines.
Solitary cylindrical to 5ft. tall, 12″ diameter
Baja native; solitary barrel to 12″ dia., eventually 4′ tall
Solitary barrel to 12″ dia., eventually 2′ tall;
F. wislizeni v. herrerae
Solitary cylindrical to 6ft. tall, 18″d. Yellow/red flowers
Widespread throughout Mexico. Large barrel to 24+ inches across, will eventually form a column to nearly 4ft tall. While once considered sacred, they are now harvested as a part of the candy industry.
Large barrel to 18″d.; blooms young; very thick hooked spines
Barrel cactus that grows usually flattened, 12-16″ d., often partially submerged in the soil.
Solitary barrel to 16″ dia., eventually 3′ tall
Large clusters can reach 15ft wide; yellow flowers
F. pilosus
Generally solitary, fast grower, to 24″; new spines bright red
F. wislizeni v. tiburonensis
Large barrel to 3ft. tall; red blooms, very thick hooked spines
Solitary barrels grow along the Southern California coast to 12″ tall.
Usually solitary to 30″ d.; striped orange/red blooms, narrow curved spines
F. splendens ssp. campanulata
Rare ocotillo subspecies
spiny shrub upright to 25ft.; red flowers in spring
Striated trunk to 15ft.; Open branching. Large sprays of red blooms on the tips of the branches in spring and fall, blooms when young. Grows well in rocky or sandy soils. Can leaf out any time there is rain, summer or winter.
Large green trunk, with varied bark and corky spine scars, upright to 12ft.
Classic Ocotillo from the Mojave and Colorado deserts; spiny stems, red flowers in spring. Long growing branches will leaf out with summer rains, grow to 20ft+.
Dwarf, mounding succulents in the Iceplant Family. Pink flowers fall through early winter.
A branched and very spiny relative of the cholla. Large club-like stems, 4″ long spines. Grows wide, not tall. Protect from frost.
A genus of nearly 100 species of flowering small barrel cactus, many sought by collectors. Their defining feature is the flowers have a distinctive naked calyx (flower buds).
Solitary small round, flattened cactus with spider-like recurved spines and beautiful small white flowers, frequently with red or burgundy hints. Keep dry in winter.
G. mihanovichii “Rainbow”
Rare cultivar with lots of color variation, including reds and yellows, in the stems. Small flowering barrel to 4″d. Grows in dry savannah.
Small flowering barrel to 4″dia., pink flowers
G. anisitsii v. rotundulum
Small flowering barrel to 4″dia.