Claretcup (Echinocereus triglochidiatus), Aztec Ruins National Monument, 2016.

Claretcups are a type of hedgehog cactus with ethnobotanical uses. Their fruit can be eaten fresh or made into various foods like preserves, candies, cakes or even baked like a squash. Fresh stems can be roasted and eaten as well. Dried cactus pulp can even be used as a candle. Find them growing in singles or mounds of up to 500 stems! The claretcup can be found at higher elevations than many other cactus species because of this clumping habit that allows the stems to capture more heat from sunlight. Pollinated by hummingbirds, you'll find them in a variety of habitats like ponderosa pine, sagebrush, pinyon-juniper forests, grasslands and, of course, desert shrub.