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Plant profile · Austin & Hill Country

Lace Hedgehog Cactus

Echinocereus reichenbachii
native · Hill Country

Lace Hedgehog Cactus is a shrub native to the Texas Hill Country that grows 0.5–1 ft tall and 3 ft wide. It wants full sun and low water, and handles caliche and clay soil. Blooms pink in May. Evergreen — it holds its leaves through winter. Deer rarely browse it. Good for bees and small mammals.

Will it grow in your yard?

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The facts

4 sources
Type
Shrub
Sun
Full sun (6–8 hrs of direct sun)
Water
Low
Height
0.5–1 ft
Spread
3 ft
Bloom
May · pink
Foliage
Evergreen
Soil
Takes caliche and clay · recorded on caliche, clay, dry, granitic, gravelly, rocky, sand, well drained
Deer
High — deer rarely browse it
Wildlife
Supports bees and small mammals

Where it grows

Recorded in these EPA Level IV ecoregions in the Austin and Hill Country launch area:

Balcones CanyonlandsLlano UpliftEdwards Plateau WoodlandNorthern Blackland PrairieFloodplains and Low TerracesLimestone Cut Plain

4 occurrence records in Central Texas (GBIF).

Can you buy it?

Also grows here — hard to find. Native and recorded growing in Central Texas, but not on the grower stock lists we read. Sourcing varies: some are stocked widely, others you will have to hunt for.

also grows from seed It starts readily from seed, so a packet from a native-seed supplier, or seed collected with permission, is often the easiest way to get a plant no nursery pots.