With a wet year (finally) I've been desert-bound and adding to my round of desert posts from seven and eight years ago. Hedgehog cacti are one of the stars of the desert bloom as they have brilliantly colored flowers, stay open day and night, and flower in bunches, making for spectacular photos.
Even though comparably small, they stand out, as illustrated by the pictures that follow.
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| Even though dwarfed by teddy bear cholla, the brilliant hedgehog flowers demand attention. |
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| Barrel cactus and yellow brittlebush, the hedgehog holds its own. |
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| Even in this panorama, with barrel cactus, teddy bear cholla, brittlebush and ocotillo, the hedgehog is no "where's waldo." They tend to clump in bunches. And when those bunches flower, they are spectacular.    
They are beautiful from the side, if you can get down low enough to see them from that vantage point.
 
But my favorite view is inside the flower, the brilliant cone, the green pistil and the yellow stamens and the collected pollen.
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I love the varying shades of pink, from an almost pastel to an intense purply pink. The spines themselves are quite beautiful!
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