Claret Cup Cactus - Echinocereus triglochidiatus

Claret Cup Cactus blooming, surrounded by vegetation

I was out hiking through the Sagebrush Desert last week. It was afternoon, and I was tired andhot, hot, hot.

As I came down the side of small hill, I noticed a bright flash of red on the ground. Then another, and another. I had stumbled into a group of in-bloom Claret Cup (“King Cup”) Cactus (Echinocerius triglochidiatus).

There were probably 15 or 20 clumps of them within a small area, perhaps 30 x30 meters. Since the afternoon was hot, and the light was bad,  I made a note of the locale and decided to come back another day.

Clumps of Claret Cup Cactus, some in bloom. This photo gives some idea of the density of the plants in this area…I think I can see ten separate plants in this picture.

Claret Cup Cactus in the morning light, surrounded by Sage, Oak and Serviceberry

I returned the next morning to catch the morning light. It was a brilliantly clear gem of a day, and the warm light was coming onto the hillside at a shallow angle. The light shone through the cactus spines, making the mounds of cactus appear to glow.

Claret Cup Cactus backlit by the morning sun, flowers ready to open.

A lot of the flowers I’d seen the previous day had gone by, but there were still a few that were opening on this morning.

Group of three Claret Cup Cactus flowers

View of the top of a cluster of Claret Cup Cactus, showing some of its flowers

The Claret Cup Cactus are inconspicuous for a lot of the year. They are just quiet mounds of tightly-packed cactus stems, not something that catches your eye.

Their stillness and the shape of their shallow slope of their mounds always make me think of a curled-up cat sleeping in the sunshine, contentedly keeping half of an eye on you as you stumble by. To sleepy and comfortable to move, pretty sure you’re going to leave them alone soon anyway.

Mound of Claret Cup Cactus in bloom

The spectacular bright-red flowers always seem out of place on them, some how. As if they have quietly hoarded their flashiness all year long, then let it burst out of them in brilliant reds for a short time each Spring.

Claret Cup Cactus. You can see the skeletal remains of an old Sage plant - I wonder if this Sage acted as the cactus’ nurse plant back when the cactus was a seedling?

[] Watercolor painting of Claret Cup Cactus

An interesting thing…almost exactly a year ago to the day, I was marveling over another group of Claret Cups in another area. It’s like Christmas in late May, I guess.

Another “Christmas in May” thing - there were young Short-horned Lizards seemingly everywhere.

A young Short-horned Lizard (_Phrynosoma hernandesi_) keeping a disapproving eye on me while I photograph the cactus.

How marvelously fine this all is.