Thursday, June 29, 2017

Cholla Cactuses

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  • cholla cactuses
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     There are about 20 different species of this including Jumping Cholla which 

    lives near Yucca Valley and Joshua Tree (the town) and Joshua Tree National Park

    1. Two distinct desert ecosystems, the Mojave and the Colorado, come together in Joshua Tree National Park. A fascinating variety of plants and animals make their homes ...
      • Directions Joshua Tree National Park lies within a few hours'...
      • Maps Rock Climbing Maps. These maps show some of the major...
      • Campgrounds
        The park has become an extremely popular destination in...

     

    I don't think the most fatalities come from Cholla but it is the biggest nuisance of

    all Cactuses I have ever been around if you get it's quills in your hands, feet, legs 

    or wherever because the quills tend to break off and you can't get them out of your

    extremities easily. So, it is painful going in, it is painful and festers if it stays in and

    breaks off inside you somewhere and 50 years later I still have quills working their 

    way out of my leg from the 1960s and 1970s.

    begin quote from:

    Cylindropuntia fulgida - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cylindropuntia_fulgida
    Cylindropuntia fulgida, the jumping cholla, also known as the hanging chain cholla, is a cholla cactus native to Sonora and the Southwestern United States.
  • Cylindropuntia fulgida

    From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
    Cylindropuntia fulgida
    Opuntia fulgida 1 - Desert Botanical Garden.jpg
    Scientific classification
    Kingdom: Plantae
    (unranked): Angiosperms
    (unranked): Eudicots
    (unranked): Core eudicots
    Order: Caryophyllales
    Family: Cactaceae
    Genus: Cylindropuntia
    Species: C. fulgida
    Binomial name
    Cylindropuntia fulgida
    Engelm.
    Opuntia fulgida range map.jpg
    Natural range
    Synonyms
    Opuntia fulgida
    Cylindropuntia fulgida, the jumping cholla, also known as the hanging chain cholla, is a cholla cactus native to Sonora and the Southwestern United States.

    Contents

    Distribution

    The greatest range of the jumping cholla is the entire of Sonora, except the Sierra Madre Occidental cordillera on the east and northeast; the range stops 100 mi north of the Sinaloa border on the south, and it is not found in the northwest in the Gran Desierto de Altar. It does occur on the islands in the Gulf of California, including the major islands of Tiburon and Isla Ángel de la Guarda.[1]
    In the Southwestern United States, the range extends into the Colorado Desert of California, and in Arizona. There it occurs south and southwest of the Arizona transition zone of the Mogollon Rim; in the northwest-central Sonoran Desert of Arizona, it is in a few selected locales. It also reaches into the northeast section of the Mojave Desert in southern Nevada and Utah, and in the very southern section of the Great Basin Desert of southern Utah. It also occurs just south of the east-west section of the Bill Williams River, east of the Colorado River in the Yuma Desert.[2]

    Description

    Cylindropuntia fulgida grows at elevations ranging from 300 to 1,000 m (980 to 3,280 ft). While the name "jumping cholla" is applied especially to this species, it is also used as a general term for all chollas.
    The jumping cholla is an arborescent (tree-like) plant with one low-branching trunk. It often grows to heights of 4 m (13 ft), with drooping branches of chained fruit. The stems are light green and are strongly tuberculate, with tubercles (small, wart-like projections on the stems) measuring 6 to 9 mm. Together, the plants form fantastic looking forests that may range over many hectares.
    Leaves have been reduced to spines, 6 to 12 of which grow from each areole. Young branches are covered with 2 to 3 cm (1 to 1 in) silvery-yellow spines, which darken to a gray color with age. These spines form a dense layer that obscures the stems. Slower growing or older branches have sparse and/or shorter spines. As the spines fall off of older parts, the brown-black bark is revealed. It becomes rough and scaly with age.
    Flowers are white and pink, streaked with lavender. They are about one inch wide, and are displayed at the joint tips (or old fruit tips), blooming in mid-summer.
    Closeup image of a cholla spine showing microscopic barbs which make removal extremely painful.
    Most of the fleshy, green fruits are sterile, pear-shaped to nearly round, wrinkled with a few spines. They are typically about 4 cm (1.5 in) long, often producing flowers the following year which add new fruits to those of previous seasons. It is these hanging chains of fruit which give it the name "hanging chain cholla".

    Name

    Jumping Cholla's stem detached and latched on the base of a paper cup.
    The "jumping cholla" name comes from the ease with which the stems detach when brushed. Often the merest touch will leave a person with bits of cactus hanging on their clothes to be discovered later when either sitting or leaning on them. The ground around a mature plant will often be covered with dead stems, and young plants are started from stems that have fallen from the adult. They attach themselves to desert animals and are dispersed for short distances.
    Other names for this cactus include chain fruit cholla, cholla brincadora, and velas de coyote.

    Wildlife

    During droughts, animals like the bighorn sheep rely on the juicy fruit for food and water. Because they grow in inaccessible and hostile places of the desert, populations of this cactus are stable.

    See also

    References


  • Little. Atlas of United States Trees, Volume 3, Minor Western Hardwoods, Map 104, Opuntia fulgida.

    1. Little. Map 104, Opuntia fulgida.

    External links

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