Cylindropuntia acanthocarpa |
Cylindropuntia acanthocarpa var. major |
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buck-horn cholla |
buckhorn cholla |
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Habit | Trees or shrubs, sparsely to densely branched, 1–2(–4) m. Stem segments firmly attached, cylindric, 10–30(–50) × 2–2.5(–3) cm; tubercles prominent, narrow to broad, 1.5–4.5 cm; areoles elliptic to subcircular, 4–5.5 × 4–5 mm; wool white or yellowish to tan, aging gray-black. | Shrubs, sprawling, with numerous branches, usually at obtuse angles. | ||||||||||||
Stem | segments green to dark green, 8–20(–31) cm; tubercles salient, moderately broad, 1.5–2.5 cm. |
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Spines | 6–20(–30+) per areole, often accompanied by 0–5 short bristlelike spines at areole margins, usually in distal areoles; major abaxial spines deflexed to divergent, subterete to flattened; major adaxial spines ascending-divergent, terete, yellow or tan to deep red-brown, aging gray, the central spine longest, 12–30(–38) mm; sheaths white to grayish with yellow to golden tips, baggy to tight fitting. |
14–18(–23) per areole, yellow to deep red-brown, aging gray, not baggy sheathed; major abaxial spines usually deflexed, spreading. |
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Glochids | in inconspicuous to small adaxial tuft, yellow to brown, 0.5–2 mm. |
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Flowers | inner tepals bright yellow to bronze to brick red, spatulate, 20–30 mm, apiculate-emarginate; filaments red; anthers yellow; style and stigma lobes white to light green. |
inner tepals yellow, bronze, or brick red. |
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Fruits | tan at maturity, obconic to ellipsoid, 15–35 × 15–20 mm, dry, tuberculate, densely to sparsely spiny (rarely spineless), with apical flange above shallow umbilicus; basal tubercles longest; areoles 12–30. |
spiny; areoles 14–22(–26). |
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Seeds | pale yellow to tan, angular or squarish in outline, warped, 3.5–5 × 3–4.5 mm, sides smooth, each with 2–4 large depressions; girdle smooth. |
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2n | = 22. |
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Cylindropuntia acanthocarpa |
Cylindropuntia acanthocarpa var. major |
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Phenology | Flowering spring (Mar–Jun). | |||||||||||||
Habitat | Sonoran Desert, sandy flats, washes, rocky slopes | |||||||||||||
Elevation | 300-900 m (1000-3000 ft) | |||||||||||||
Distribution |
AZ; CA; NV; UT; n Mexico
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AZ; Mexico (Sonora) |
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Discussion | Varieties 4 (4 in the flora). Cylindropuntia acanthocarpa hybridizes with C. abyssi, C. echinocarpa (= C. ×deserta), C. bigelovii (= C. ×campii), C. leptocaulis (see C. ×tetracantha), C. ×multigeniculata, C. spinosior, C. versicolor, and C. whipplei (= C. congesta). Hybrids of C. acanthocarpa and C. ×multigeniculata are more open in habit, with longer stem segments than C. ×multigeniculata and with reddish filaments like C. acanthocarpa. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Cylindropuntia acanthocarpa var. major hybridizes with C. bigelovii (= C. campii M. A. Baker & Pinkava). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 4. | FNA vol. 4. | ||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Cactaceae > subfam. Opuntioideae > Cylindropuntia | Cactaceae > subfam. Opuntioideae > Cylindropuntia > Cylindropuntia acanthocarpa | ||||||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||||||
Synonyms | Opuntia acanthocarpa | Opuntia echinocarpa var. major, C. acanthocarpa var. ramosa, Opuntia acanthocarpa var. major, Opuntia acanthocarpa var. ramosa, Opuntia echinocarpa var. robustior | ||||||||||||
Name authority | (Engelmann & J. M. Bigelow) F. M. Knuth: in C. Backeberg and F. M. Knuth, Kaktus-ABC, 124. (1935) | (Engelmann) Pinkava: J. Arizona-Nevada Acad. Sci. 32: 42. (1999) | ||||||||||||
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