Cylindropuntia ganderi |
Cylindropuntia ×tetracantha |
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Gander cholla, Gander's buckhorn cholla, Gander's cholla |
Tucson pricklypear |
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Habit | Shrubs, ascending, with strict branches, 0.5–1.5 m. Stem 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. | Shrubs, openly branched, 0.5–1.3 m. Stem segments usually alternate, green to gray-green (or reddish), 5–28 × 0.7–1.4 cm; tubercles moderately prominent, narrowly elongate, 1.5–3 cm; areoles subcircular, 1.5–3 mm in diam.; wool tan, aging gray. |
Spines | 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. |
(0–)1–4 per areole, in all but proximal areoles of stem segment, usually all deflexed, yellow with whitish to pinkish basal coating, moderately stout to acicular, the longest 1.5–2.8 cm; sheaths whitish at bases to golden at tips. |
Glochids | in thin adaxial crescent, yellow or tan to rusty, 0.5–6 mm. |
in adaxial tuft and marginal about areole, yellow, 1–3 mm. |
Flowers | 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. |
inner tepals greenish bronze or red to magenta, spatulate- to obovate-apiculate, 10–15 mm; filaments reddish; anthers light yellow; color of style and stigma lobes unknown. |
Fruits | 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). |
commonly sterile, often proliferating, green, becoming yellow with red blush to red, obconic to obovate-stipitate, 15–23 × 10–20 mm, fleshy, moderately tuberculate; umbilicus deep, 3–4.5 mm; areoles 10–18, a few producing 1(–2) short spines. |
Seeds | 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. |
tan, angularly subcircular to broadly oval, warped, 3–4 × 3–3.5 mm; girdle broad, lumpy, little protruding. |
2n | = 22. |
= 22. |
Cylindropuntia ganderi |
Cylindropuntia ×tetracantha |
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Phenology | Flowering spring (Mar–May). | Flowering spring (Apr–May). |
Habitat | Desert alluvial flats, bajadas, sandy, gravelly to rocky substrates | Sonoran desert scrub, flats, hills |
Elevation | 100-1000 m (300-3300 ft) | 500-1000 m (1600-3300 ft) |
Distribution |
CA; Mexico (Baja California)
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AZ |
Discussion | 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.) |
Cylindropuntia ×tetracantha (= C. acanthocarpa × C. leptocaulis) is an uncommon hybrid; sympatric hybrids long confused with and usually included in C. ×tetracantha involve C. leptocaulis × C. spinosior, which have spineless, reddish, and strongly tuberculate fruits and long-spreading, subwhorled branches, and C. leptocaulis × C. versicolor, which have spineless, reddish, smooth, and enlarged fruits and a less spreading habit. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 4, p. 115. | FNA vol. 4, p. 106. |
Parent taxa | Cactaceae > subfam. Opuntioideae > Cylindropuntia | Cactaceae > subfam. Opuntioideae > Cylindropuntia |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Opuntia acanthocarpa subsp. ganderi, Opuntia acanthocarpa var. ganderi, Opuntia ganderi | Opuntia tetracantha, Opuntia kleiniae var. tetracantha |
Name authority | (C. B. Wolf) Rebman & Pinkava: J. Arizona-Nevada Acad. Sci. 33: 150. (2001) | (Toumey) F. M. Knuth: in C. Backeberg and F. M. Knuth, Kaktu s-ABC, 124. (1935) |
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