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Cylindropuntia leptocaulis (130)
Name
Cylindropuntia leptocaulis
Origin
Southwestern U.S. and Northwestern Mexico.
Nomenclature
A Cylindropuntia is… a cylindrical opuntia! Opuntia is a very large genus of cacti, varying in size from 2-inch miniatures to 100 feet high trees. They are native to virtually every county in the Western Hemisphere. Opuntias, including Cylindropuntias, not only have normal spines, but they also have thin barbed spines barely visible, named glochids. The fruit of both genuses are generally edible.
Discussion
Some taxonomists simply lump the chollas in with the prickly pear cacti (the Opuntias), to which they are very closely related. The fruits of this cholla are olive-sized, and turn red when they mature in the winter months. They become then very visible and gave the plant its name of Christmas cactus. There are about fifty species of cholla.
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