Flora of North America species comparison

diffuse or tuberlike.

segments firmly attached, green, 3–9(–15) × 0.5–1.5(–2.2) cm;

tubercles prominent, short, 0.5–1 cm;

areoles oval to obdeltate, 2–6 × 1.5–4 mm;

wool pale yellow to white, aging gray.

segmented throughout or only in ultimate branches, succulent (less noticeably so in some Cylindropuntia), often woody, especially toward base, smooth or tuberculate;

areoles cushionlike, circular or nearly so (to linear), usually bearing conspicuous spines and always bearing glochids.

of brief duration, promptly deciduous, present only during initial growth of stem segments and flowers [persistent], conic or somewhat flattened, succulent.

(1–)3–8(–10) spines per areole, in all but basalmost areoles, best developed toward apex, interlacing with spines of adjacent areoles, whitish or pale yellow, pale red-brown, sometimes tipped yellow, of 2 kinds;

radial spines slender, flattened basally, deflexed, 5–8 mm, surrounding central spines;

central spines usually 4(–6), spreading into a cross, stout, subterete, 2–3.4(–4.5) cm;

also 0–2 bristlelike spines;

sheaths whitish to pale yellow (rarely golden) throughout or tipped yellow to golden.

slender to stout (to hairlike), terete to strongly flattened, usually smooth, sometimes barbed or roughened, epidermis intact or partly to wholly separating from body of spine as sheath that hangs onto spine.

in adaxial tuft, yellow, 1–3 mm.

inner tepals yellow to green-yellow, spatulate, 15–25(–30) mm, apiculate;

filaments yellowish or yellow-green;

anthers yellow;

style white to yellowish;

stigma lobes whitish, yellowish, or pale green (rarely pink tinged).

diurnal (opening late afternoon or night in Cylindropuntia fulgida), bisexual (sometimes functionally staminate or pistillate), solitary in areoles [terminal], radially or bilaterally symmetric (flower curved and/or the ovary flattened), sessile, rotate, cup-shaped, or salverform;

flower tube epigynous, short adnate to extension of stem segment surrounding ovary;

nectary at base of style, open or sometimes covered by outgrowths of proximal portion of style base or of flower tube wall as specialized nectar chamber.

rarely proliferating, yellow to greenish yellow, broadly cylindric to subspheric, 18–30(–35) × 15–22(–32) mm, fleshy, tuberculate, spineless;

tubercles subequal or distalmost longest, usually prominent;

umbilicus 7–8 mm deep;

areoles 36–62.

indehiscent, cylindric, ellipsoid, ovoid, or subspheric, sometimes clavate, fleshy, juicy (bleeding), or quickly drying;

perianth and contained flower parts shriveling and abscising basally as single unit including floral cup, leaving deep to almost flat scar (umbilicus) atop fruit.

pale yellow, subcircular to slightly angular in outline, flattened to warped, 3–3.5 × 2.5–3.5 mm, sides smooth or with 1–3 depressions;

girdle smooth.

0 (sterile) or 1–400+, yellowish, tan, gray, or brown, flattened to subspheric, 2–7 mm, each completely enclosed by bony funicular envelope, glabrous or sometimes pubescent, its vascular bundle forming girdle around seed, sometimes enlarged and protruding as ridge or wing.

= 22, 44.