Davis' Green Pitaya

(Echinocereus viridiflorus var. davisii)

Date of Listing: Endangered, 1979

© Photo courtesy Paul M. Montgomery

Note: Special thanks to the photographers for providing images of Texas endangered and threatened plants. All rights to these images are reserved. Educational use permitted.

The diminutive size of some cacti make them highly prized collectors' items. This species is no exception. Probably the only reason that it has not been extirpated on public land is due to its tiny size and its ability to "disappear" during droughts. Like the vast majority of cacti, Davis' Green Pitaya stores water in its stem. During dry weather as the plant loses water, the stem contracts and actually pulls into the bed of spikemoss, thus concealing it from the collector's eye.

Size:

Dwarf cactus with rounded, mostly underground, single stems to 1 inches tall.

Habitat (where it lives):

Spikemoss-covered patches of Caballos Novaculite rock outcrops (a quartz-like material) in sparsely vegetated areas of the Chihuahuan Desert.

Range (where found in Texas):

Brewster County.

Reproduction:

Flowering primarily in March; fruit maturing from April-May.

Population Status:

Known from 2 sites, primarily on private land.