Cylindropuntia acanthocarpa |
Cylindropuntia abyssi |
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buck-horn cholla |
peach springs 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. | Trees and shrubs, openly branched, to 1 m. Stem segments somewhat detachable, 8–14 × 1.8–2.5 cm; tubercles prominent, 0.6–1.5 cm, moderately broad; areoles elliptic, 5–7 × 2.5–3.5 mm; wool white to gray. | ||||||||||||
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. |
in brushlike clusters of 10–15 per areole, flexible, whitish to yellowish tan, aging gray; abaxial ones erect to descending, recurved, angularly flattened to flattened, sometimes twisted, the longest 23–38 mm; adaxial ones ascending, erect, divergent, terete to angularly flattened basally, the longest 18–32 mm; sheaths silvery white. |
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Glochids | in inconspicuous to small adaxial tuft, yellow to brown, 0.5–2 mm. |
in inconspicuous small adaxial tuft, pale yellow, 0.5–1.5 mm, few much longer and scattered along periphery of areole. |
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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 pale yellow to greenish yellow, spatulate, 15–20 mm, apiculate; filaments yellow; anthers yellow; style off-white; stigma lobes yellowish. |
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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. |
green becoming dull yellow, dry, tuberculate, spineless or with 1–2 short spines; tubercles subequal in length; umbilicus deep, 7 × 15–18 mm; areoles 16–24. |
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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. |
tan, slightly angular and warped, 3–4 × 3.2–3.5 mm; girdle smooth. |
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2n | = 22. |
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Cylindropuntia acanthocarpa |
Cylindropuntia abyssi |
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Phenology | Flowering spring–early summer (Mar–Jun). | |||||||||||||
Habitat | Desert scrub, limestone ledges and crests | |||||||||||||
Elevation | 500-800 m (1600-2600 ft) | |||||||||||||
Distribution |
AZ; CA; NV; UT; n Mexico
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AZ |
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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 abyssi is tentatively viewed as a narrow endemic relict in Peach Springs Canyon, Mojave County, Arizona, but may well be a persistent hybrid derivative, most likely involving C. bigelovii. Hybrids between Cylindropuntia abyssi and C. acanthocarpa have a shrub habit, long-divergent and loosely sheathed spines, and more elongate tubercles than C. abyssi. (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, p. 114. | ||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Cactaceae > subfam. Opuntioideae > Cylindropuntia | Cactaceae > subfam. Opuntioideae > Cylindropuntia | ||||||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||||||
Synonyms | Opuntia acanthocarpa | Opuntia abyssi | ||||||||||||
Name authority | (Engelmann & J. M. Bigelow) F. M. Knuth: in C. Backeberg and F. M. Knuth, Kaktus-ABC, 124. (1935) | (Hester) Backeberg: Cactaceae 1: 184. (1958) | ||||||||||||
Web links |