The cactus enthusiasts of our world place a high intrinsic value on their work! It seems the more rare or endangered the point of view, the greater the desirability. Some are mostly eager to complete their collection; others deal with propagation, while still more debate taxonomic and nomenclatural status. Europeans especially like to publish about lost or missing species or even new locations, the “non plus ultra”. Something different occurs in the home countries of succulents where increasingly practical issues of species conservation are pushing into focus. This background is especially important for the entity known as Echinocereus melanocentrus later described as E. reichenbachii var. albertii, which is endemic to south Texas.

Despite the efforts of the Texas government, these cacti are caught between conflicting land use issues. As a result the conservation efforts regarding these cacti in Texas shall be improved. In this context, the present article is intended as taxonomic-nomenclatural awareness training as well as documentation and call for help regarding the habitat conditions. Hopefully, the characteristics that we admire in cultivation in the European greenhouse can be returned to the native land. The description and naming of the white-blooming cultivar ‘Margaret’ acknowledges the widow of the eponymous Dr. Richard O. Albert for their support for earlier fieldwork.

It is hoped that this publication has a positive influence on the fate of this small, extremely interesting, and worthy of culture cactus.