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Stenocereus eruca
Stenocereus eruca is a spiny, recumbent columnar cactus from coastal Baja California Sur that forms large mats. It needs full sun, sandy soil and very little water.
Stenocereus eruca, commonly known as the creeping devil, is a member of the family Cactaceae. It is one of the most distinctive cacti, a member of the relatively small genus Stenocereus.
It is endemic to the Magdalena Plains in the central Pacific coast of Baja California Sur typically at altitudes up to 20 meters and is found only on sandy soils, where it forms massive colonies. Other members of this genus that are found in the Baja Peninsula of California are Stenocereus thurberi (Organ Pipe Cactus, Pitaya Dulce) and Stenocereus gummosus (Sour Pitaya, Pitaya Agria, Pitayha). While once thought to be threatened with extinction, further evidence showed it not to be so. Transplantation, while not recommended due to environmentally specific factors, can be successful with strict adherence to maintaining conditions which mirror the native environment.
Spanish Stenocereus · Octopus Cactus · Stenocereus beneckei · Stenocereus chacalapensis · Stenocereus chrysocarpus · Stenocereus fricii · Tall Candelabra Cactus · Galloping Cactus · Spanish Stenocereus · Stenocereus huastecorum · Stenocereus humilis · Stenocereus kerberi
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Stenocereus eruca 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.
