Search / Plant Profile / Echinocereus reichenbachii var. albertii

Plant Profile

Black Lace Cactus (Echinocereus reichenbachii var. albertii)

The black lace cactus produces large pink flowers that are over 3 inches in diameter during the months of April to June. Photo Credit: San Antonio Botanical Garden

Global Rank: T1 - Critically Imperiled
Legal Status: Federally Endangered
Family: Cactaceae
State: TX
Nature Serve ID: 158482
Lifeform: Shrub
Categories of Interest: Cacti/Succulents
Date Inducted in National Collection: 02/10/1987

Description:

Black Lace Cactus is a small ornamental cactus with landscape value. It has large pink to light purple flowers (Merritt, pers. comm.). Variety albertii grows in south Texas along the Gulf Coast in only three counties. Over the years it has been over-collected due to its beautiful flowers. Like other south Texas species, habitat destruction is one of the major threats to this plant. (USFWS 1987).

Where is Black Lace Cactus (Echinocereus reichenbachii var. albertii) located in the wild?

Habitat:

Sandy-loam brush tracts (USFWS 1987)

Distribution:

Three Texas Gulf Coast counties (Refugio, Jim Wells, and Kleberg) (USFWS 1987)

States & Provinces:

Black Lace Cactus can be found in Texas

Which CPC Partners conserve Black Lace Cactus (Echinocereus reichenbachii var. albertii)?

Desert Botanical Garden

Not Sponsored

Assigned 06/09/17

San Antonio Botanical Garden

Not Sponsored

Conservation Actions

Assigned 08/22/22

CPC's Plant Sponsorship Program provides long term stewardship of rare plants in our National Collection. We are so grateful for all our donors who have made the Plant Sponsorship Program so successful. We are in the process of acknowledging all our wonderful plant sponsorship donors on our website. This is a work in progress and will be updated regularly.

Conservation Actions

Tina Stanley

08/29/2022

As of August 2022, San Antonio Botanical Garden has collected seed from this species in the wild.

09/09/2020

The San Antonio Botanical Garden maintains plants in cold frame and in test plot.

09/09/2020

The San Antonio Botanical Garden collected seed from the wild and propagated. Plants grew easily from seed.

09/09/2020

The San Antonio Botanical Garden collected seed from the wild and propagated. Plants grew easily from seed.

Nature Serve Biotics

05/02/2017

Approximately five occurrences are known, all within a small area along the Gulf Coast of south Texas. These populations could easily be collected to extinction by cactus poachers. The taxon is also threatened by the destruction of its habitat due to brush clearing for range improvement and due to conversion to agriculture.

Cindy Barrett

01/01/2010

Over-collection Habitat destruction Grazing (USFWS 1987)

Cindy Barrett

01/01/2010

Three populations are known to exist in the wild, all of which occurred on private land at the time the recovery plan for this species was written. (USFWS 1987)

Cindy Barrett

01/01/2010

The San Antonio Botanical Garden collected seed from the wild and propagated. Plants grew easily from seed.

Cindy Barrett

01/01/2010

The San Antonio Botanical Garden maintains plants in cold frame and in test plot. They have been plagued by scale insects. At the time when the recovery plan for this species was written, private landowners where the species was found were being contacted by The Nature Conservancy and urged to protect the plants on their property. One family had already joined the Conservancy's Land Steward Society, indicating their voluntary willingness to protect the beautiful rare cacti on their land (USFWS 1987)

Cindy Barrett

01/01/2010

Need to collect seeds from the three populations and send to the National Seed Storage Lab for long term storage. Ecology and population biology studies needed (USFWS 1986)

Cindy Barrett

01/01/2010

See research/management needs.