Golden Cholla, Cylindropuntia echinocarpa

About Golden Cholla (Cylindropuntia echinocarpa) 2 Nurseries Carry This Plant

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Cylindropuntia echinocarpa is a species of cactus known by the common names silver cholla, golden cholla, and Wiggins' cholla. It was formerly named Opuntia echinocarpa. C. echinocarpa is native to the Southwestern United States and Northwestern Mexico, where it can be found the Sonoran Desert, the Mojave Desert, and Colorado Desert in California and other states. It commonly occurs in desert dry wash, creosote bush scrub, Joshua tree woodland, and Pinyon-juniper woodland communities. It ranges from Mono County to Baja California Peninsula. Silver cholla is a large, tree-like cactus known to exceed 2 m (6. 6 ft) in height. Its stem and branches are made up of cylindrical segments, the surface arranged in green tubercles (segments) up to 1. 5 cm wide and just under 1. 0 cm tall. The fleshy tubercles each bear up to 20 long, straight, grayish or yellowish spines which may be nearly 4 cm long. The tubercles are less than twice the length, which helps distinguish it from Buckhorn Cholla (Cylindropuntia acanthocarpa). The flower is usually greenish yellow, sometimes pinkish or brownish in color. There is a bumpy, spiny tan fruit is up to two centimeters long and has a foul scent reminiscent of rancid butter. Very few fruits reach maturity, and many immature fruits can often be seen lying on the ground below. The fruits have white seeds.

Plant Description

Plant Type

Shrub, Succulent

Size

6.6 - 10 ft tall

Flower Color

Yellow, Pink, Green, Brown

Flowering Season

Spring

Wildlife Supported

Butterflies & moths hosted ( 5 likely * ) SHOW ALL

White-lined Sphinx Hyles lineataHyles lineata

Cahela Moth Cahela ponderosellaCahela ponderosella

Pseudoschinia elautalisPseudoschinia elautalis

Dyotopasta yumaellaDyotopasta yumaella

Laetilia dilatifasciellaLaetilia dilatifasciella

Landscaping Information

Sun

Full Sun

Nurseries

Carried by 2

Ease of Care

Moderately Easy

Common uses

Hedges, Deer Resistant, Bird Gardens

Sunset Zones?

10*, 11, 12*, 14, 16, 18, 19*, 20*, 21*, 22, 23, 24

Natural Setting

Site Type

Dry places

Climate

Annual Precipitation: 2.6" - 55.5", Summer Precipitation: 0.33" - 2.71", Coldest Month: 34.8" - 63.2", Hottest Month: 63.5" - 88.8", Humidity: 2.69" - 45.46", Elevation: -122" - 6541"

Alternative Names

Botanical Names: Opuntia echinocarpa,Opuntia wigginsii
Common Names: Silver Cholla, Silver Or Golden Cholla, Staghorn Cholla, Wiggins' Cholla

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Sources include: Wikipedia. All text shown in the "About" section of these pages is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Plant observation data provided by the participants of the California Consortia of Herbaria, Sunset information provided by Jepson Flora Project. Propogation from seed information provided by the Santa Barbara Botanical Garden from "Seed Propagation of Native California Plants" by Dara E. Emery. Sources of plant photos include CalPhotos, Wikimedia Commons, and independent plant photographers who have agreed to share their images with Calscape. Other general sources of information include Calflora, CNPS Manual of Vegetation Online, Jepson Flora Project, Las Pilitas, Theodore Payne, Tree of Life, The Xerces Society, and information provided by CNPS volunteer editors, with special thanks to Don Rideout. Climate data used in creation of plant range maps is from PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University, using 30 year (1981-2010) annual "normals" at an 800 meter spatial resolution.

Links: Jepson eFlora Taxon Page CalPhotos Wikipedia Calflora

Golden Cholla

Cylindropuntia echinocarpa

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Golden ChollaCylindropuntia echinocarpa

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Golden Cholla

Cylindropuntia echinocarpa