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Sclerocactus mariposensis
Also called Lloyd's Fishhook Cactus, Silver Column Cactus, Lloyd's Mariposa Cactus
Sclerocactus mariposensis, synonyms including Echinomastus mariposensis and Neolloydia mariposensis, is a rare species of cactus known by the common names Lloyd's fishhook cactus, golfball cactus, silver column cactus, and Mariposa cactus. It is native to a section of territory straddling the border between Brewster County, Texas, in the United States, and the states of Coahuila and Nuevo León in northeastern Mexico. It has been federally listed as a threatened species in the United States since 1979.
This tiny cactus grows at about 30 sites in Texas and Coahuila, many of which are located within Big Bend National Park and the Black Gap Wildlife Management Area. In Coahuila it has been observed near Cuatro Ciénegas and Monclova. It is named for the Mariposa Mine, a mercury mine in Texas, where it was first discovered. It was described in 1945. The plant grows in Chihuahuan Desert scrub amongst other plants such as beaked yucca (Yucca rostrata), creosote (Larrea tridentata), and lechuguilla (Agave lechuguilla), as well as many other cacti. It grows in barren, exposed, rocky habitat with substrates of limestone; it does not occur in the adjacent parts of the habitat where the rock is gypsum, and the related Sclerocactus warnockii fills its niche there. This cactus may grow alongside the bunched cory cactus (Coryphantha ramillosa), another threatened cactus species.
Fishhook Cactuses · Shorthook fishhook cactus · Pariette cactus · Sclerocactus johnsonii subsp. erectocentrus · Uinta Basin hookless cactus · Johnson's Barrel Cactus · Mesa Verde fishhook cactus · Paperspine fishhook cactus · Redspined fishhook cactus · Great Basin fishhook cactus · Siler's pincushion cactus · Uinta Basin Hookless Cactus
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Sclerocactus mariposensis by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
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.
