Echinocereus cinerascens belongs to the cactus family, a
type of plant that is highly in demand for horticultural
industry trade due to its bizarre or exotic natural
appearance and unique characteristics. According to Mizrahi
et al. (1997), many cactus species have horticultural
potential as fruits and industrial crops. Sriskandarajah and
Serek (2004) stated the main economic importance of
cactus species in worldwide horticultural trade is as ornamental
plants. Countries involved in commercial production
of ornamental cactus include Denmark, USA, Japan,
Great Britain, Germany and Holland. E. cinerascens is
widely abundant in south-western USA and Mexico. It
takes 3–14 days to germinate from seed and often grows to
30 cm in height and 5–8 cm in diameter. Many cactus
species in Mexico including E. cinerascens are endangered
mainly due to destruction of their natural habitat for agriculture
or livestock ranching as well as over-collection of
young wild plants for trade. Besides, most of the seedlings
are susceptible to predation or damping off and inefficient
propagation of seeds in the natural habitat often causes
poor recovery of cactus species. Due to serious survival
problems in their natural habitat, many cactus species
including E. cinerascens are listed as threatened and protected
by the Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species (CITES) (Inskipp and Gillett 2003).