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Ferocactus wislizeni
Also called Fishhook barrel cactus, Candy Barrel Cactus, Southwestern Barrel Cactus, Arizona Barrel Cactus, Compass Barrel, Fishhook Cactus
Candy barrelcactus is a ball-shaped, later cylindrical desert cactus with hooked spines and yellow to red-orange summer flowers. It thrives in full sun, sharp drainage and minimal water.
Ferocactus wislizeni, the fishhook barrel cactus, also called Arizona barrel cactus, candy barrel cactus, and Southwestern barrel cactus, is a species of flowering plant in the cactus family Cactaceae, native to northern Mexico and the southern United States. It is a ball-shaped cactus eventually growing to a cylindrical shape, with spiny ribs and red or yellow flowers in summer.
Some sources mistakenly spell the epithet "wislizenii." The correct spelling is with one "i," per ICN article 60C.2.
The fishhook barrel cactus is native to southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. More specifically, it can be found in southern Arizona, southern New Mexico, El Paso County, Texas and northern Sonora, Sinaloa, and Chihuahua, Mexico. It grows in gravelly or sandy soil, more commonly on bajadas than steep slopes, at 1000 to 5300 feet (300–1600 m) elevation. It prefers full sun, and does well in hot arid climates. It is, however, frost-tolerant to 5 °F (-15 °C)
San Diego barrelcactus · Barrel cactus · Glandulicactus mathssonii · Glandulicactus uncinatus · Barrel Cacti
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Ferocactus wislizeni by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
