Cylindropuntia acanthocarpa |
Cylindropuntia wolfii |
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buck-horn cholla |
wolf cholla, Wolf's cholla, Wolf's opuntia |
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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, ± erect, densely branched, 0.5–1.1(–1.5) m. Stem segments yellow- to gray-green, 6–40 × 2.5–4 cm; tubercles prominent, 1–1.5(–2) cm; areoles subcircular to obdeltate, 5–7 × 4.5–5 mm; wool tan to yellow, aging 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. |
12–25(–30) per areole, gold to pale brown, aging dark brown, longest to 3 cm; sheaths translucent yellow to pale brown. |
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Glochids | in inconspicuous to small adaxial tuft, yellow to brown, 0.5–2 mm. |
in adaxial tuft and scattered along margin, yellow to pale brown, of irregular lengths. |
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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-green suffused with bronze, pale red, or purple-brown, 20–35 mm; filaments dark bronze-red to magenta; anthers yellow, sometimes sterile; style rose-pink (at least distally); stigma lobes cream. |
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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. |
grayish tan, 25–30 × 15–30 mm, dry, tuberculate, densely spiny; tubercles prominent, subequal or basal ones longest; areoles 24–32. |
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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. |
rare, tan, circular, flattened, 5–6 mm diam., with 1–2 shallow depressions; girdle smooth. |
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2n | = 66. |
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Cylindropuntia acanthocarpa |
Cylindropuntia wolfii |
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Phenology | Flowering spring (Mar–May). | |||||||||||||
Habitat | Dry, rocky slopes | |||||||||||||
Elevation | 300-1200 m (1000-3900 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.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 4. | FNA vol. 4, p. 117. | ||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Cactaceae > subfam. Opuntioideae > Cylindropuntia | Cactaceae > subfam. Opuntioideae > Cylindropuntia | ||||||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||||||
Synonyms | Opuntia acanthocarpa | Opuntia echinocarpa var. wolfii, Opuntia wolfii | ||||||||||||
Name authority | (Engelmann & J. M. Bigelow) F. M. Knuth: in C. Backeberg and F. M. Knuth, Kaktus-ABC, 124. (1935) | (L. D. Benson) M. A. Baker: J. Arizona-Nevada Acad. Sci. 33: 150. (2001) | ||||||||||||
Web links |