This cactus is native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, where it is a resident of varied habitats from low desert to rocky slopes, scrub, and mountain woodland.

The showy flower is a funnel-shaped bloom up to 8–9 cm (3.1–3.5 inches) wide and bright scarlet red to orange-red tepals.

Varieties of the E. triglochidiatus often vary dramatically in their stems and spines, with closely related combinations producing radically different looking plants.

[4] One variety, E. t. arizonicus or the Arizona Hedgehog cactus, is federally listed as an endangered species in the United States.

Conversely, the Integrated Taxonomic Information System lists the variety as its own species, Echinocereus arizonicus.

While ants occasionally take fruit to their mounds, leaving seeds above to sprout - feeding by rodents and lagomorphs are the most common means of dispersal.

New sprouts of the cactus thrive under the shade of the fourwing saltbush, which provides protection from animals and desiccation.