Cylindropuntia acanthocarpa |
Cylindropuntia ganderi |
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buck-horn cholla |
Gander cholla, Gander's buckhorn cholla, Gander's cholla |
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Habit | Trees or shrubs, sparsely to densely branched, 1–2(–4) m. | Shrubs, ascending, with strict branches, 0.5–1.5 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. |
segments firmly attached, green, (5–)10–26 × (1.7–)2.5–4.5 cm; tubercles prominent, narrowly elliptic to oval, often subribbed, (0.9–)1.3–2.6 cm; areoles elliptic to obdeltate, 4–7 × 2.5–5 mm; wool yellowish tan, aging gray. |
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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. |
11–18(–28) per areole, at most areoles, moderately to wholly obscuring stems, spreading or erect, whitish, pale yellow to pinkish tan to reddish, aging brown or black, terete or abaxial spines basally flattened, grading in length, the longest porrect to reflexed, 2–2.5(–3.5) cm, with 0–6 bristlelike spines at areole margins; sheaths slightly baggy, whitish becoming yellow to golden apically. |
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Glochids | in inconspicuous to small adaxial tuft, yellow to brown, 0.5–2 mm. |
in thin adaxial crescent, yellow or tan to rusty, 0.5–6 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 greenish yellow, often with tips reddish abaxially, spatulate, 22–30 mm, apiculate to emarginate-apiculate; filaments yellow-green to green; anthers yellow to orange-yellow; style cream to yellow, sometimes basally greenish; stigma lobes greenish cream, cream or yellow. |
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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. |
yellowish, drying tan, globose, tuberculate, budlike with spines similar to those of stem segments but slightly shorter, often reflexed; proximal tubercles slightly elongated if fruits fertile; umbilicus 4–5 mm deep; areoles 22–32(–40). |
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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. |
pale yellow, angular-suborbicular, flattened to slightly warped, 4.5–6 × 4.5–5.7 mm, sides with 3–5 depressions; girdle smooth, not protruding. |
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2n | = 22. |
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Cylindropuntia acanthocarpa |
Cylindropuntia ganderi |
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Phenology | Flowering spring (Mar–May). | |||||||||||||
Habitat | Desert alluvial flats, bajadas, sandy, gravelly to rocky substrates | |||||||||||||
Elevation | 100-1000 m [300-3300 ft] | |||||||||||||
Distribution |
AZ; CA; NV; UT; n Mexico
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CA; Mexico (Baja California)
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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.) |
In the north part of its range, Cylindropuntia ganderi intergrades with C. californica var. parkeri. (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. 115. | ||||||||||||
Parent taxa | ||||||||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||||||
Synonyms | Opuntia acanthocarpa | Opuntia acanthocarpa subsp. ganderi, Opuntia acanthocarpa var. ganderi, Opuntia ganderi | ||||||||||||
Name authority | (Engelmann & J. M. Bigelow) F. M. Knuth: in C. Backeberg and F. M. Knuth, Kaktus-ABC, 124. (1935) | (C. B. Wolf) Rebman & Pinkava: J. Arizona-Nevada Acad. Sci. 33: 150. (2001) | ||||||||||||
Web links |