Cylindropuntia bigelovii |
Cylindropuntia leptocaulis |
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teddy-bear cholla |
Christmas cactus, desert Christmas cactus, desert Christmas cholla, tasajillo |
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Habit | Shrubs or small trees, sparingly to densely branched, 0.5–1.8 m, usually bearing similar, commonly spineless terminal branchlets arranged at right angles along major axes. | |
Stem | segments usually alternate, gray-green or purplish, 2–8 × 0.3–0.5 cm; tubercles linear, drying as elongate, riblike wrinkles, 1.1–2(–3) cm; areoles broadly elliptic, (1–)1.5–3.5 × 0.7–2 mm; wool white to yellow, aging gray. |
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Spines | 0–1(–3) per areole, usually in apical areoles to well distributed, erect, flexible, straight or arching upward or downward, red-brown with gray to whitish coat, tips yellow, aging red-brown, terete, angular-flattened basally, the longest (4–)14–45 mm; sheaths gray to purple-gray with yellow to red-brown tips or yellow throughout. |
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Glochids | in adaxial tuft or crescent to encircling areole, yellow or reddish brown, 1–3(–5) mm. |
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Flowers | inner tepals pale yellow to greenish yellow, sometimes tipped red, narrowly obovate, 5–8 mm, acute, apiculate; filaments greenish yellow; anthers yellow; style yellow; stigma lobes greenish yellow. |
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Fruits | occasionally proliferating, yellow to scarlet (rarely green, sometimes tinged purple, becoming yellow), sometimes stipitate, obovoid, 9–15(–27) × 6–7(–12) mm, fleshy, smooth, spineless; umbilicus 2–4 mm deep; areoles 16–20. |
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Seeds | pale yellow, suborbicular to squarish and crenate in outline, warped, 3–4.5 mm diam., sides smooth, each with 1–3 large depressions; girdle smooth or with very narrow ridge. |
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2n | = 22, 33, 44. |
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Cylindropuntia bigelovii |
Cylindropuntia leptocaulis |
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Phenology | Flowering spring–early summer, sometimes fall (Mar–Aug, Oct). | |
Habitat | Deserts, grasslands, chaparrals, oak-juniper woodlands, flats, bajadas and slopes, sandy, loamy to gravelly substrates | |
Elevation | 40-1500 m (100-4900 ft) | |
Distribution |
AZ; CA; NV; nw Mexico
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AZ; NM; OK; TX; Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Nuevo León, Sonora, Tamaulipas, Zacatecas)
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Discussion | Varieties 2 (1 in the flora). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Cylindropuntia leptocaulis forms hybrids with C. acanthocarpa var. major (see 3. C. ×tetracantha), C. arbuscula, C. fulgida, C. kleiniae, C. spinosior, C. versicolor (see discussion under C. ×tetracantha), and C. whipplei. Hybrids in central Arizona have flowers intermediate in size to the parents, narrow tuberculate stems bearing 0–1(–2) major spines per areole, and tuberculate, spineless, orange to red fruits. The chromosome number reported for hybrids is 2n = 22. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 4, p. 109. | FNA vol. 4, p. 105. |
Parent taxa | Cactaceae > subfam. Opuntioideae > Cylindropuntia | Cactaceae > subfam. Opuntioideae > Cylindropuntia |
Sibling taxa | ||
Subordinate taxa | ||
Synonyms | Opuntia bigelovii | Opuntia leptocaulis, C. leptocaulis var. brevispina, C. leptocaulis var. longispina, Opuntia fragilis var. frutescens, Opuntia frutescens, Opuntia frutescens var. brevispina, Opuntia frutescens var. longispina, Opuntia leptocaulis, Opuntia leptocaulis var. longispina, Opuntia leptocaulis var. vaginata, Opuntia vaginata |
Name authority | (Engelmann) F. M. Knuth: in C. Backeberg and F. M. Knuth, Kaktus-ABC, 125. (1935) | (de Candolle) F. M. Knuth: in C. Backeberg and F. M. Knuth, Kaktus-ABC, 122. (1935) |
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