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Golden or Silver Cholla, Cylindropuntia echinocarpa

Silver Cholla, Cylindropuntia echinocarpa
Cactaceae

Golden Cholla, Cylindropuntia echinocarpa
Cactaceae

This is a variable species. It can take a variety of shapes. South of Clark Valley, it may appear as a tree nearly 7 feet tall. Elsewhere it is seen as a low plant only 3 feet tall and resembling a teddy-bear cholla, Cylindropuntia bigelovii, but with longer stem segments. At other times it may be confused with a gander's cholla, C. ganderi. Sometimes the ground around a C. echinocarpa is littered with its stems as is typical of a C. bigelovii. At other times, the stems remain attached to the plant and the ground is clean.

A Cylindropuntia echinocarpa with golden spines is called a Golden Cholla and with white or gray spines is called a Silver Cholla. In Anza-Borrego, it has been noted in Desert Gardens on the Coyote Canyon Jeep Trail about 2.5 miles north of the north end of DiGiorgio Road in Borrego Springs. It has also been found off Highway 79 near Warner Springs.

Cylindropuntia echinocarpa is notable for the density of its spines, about 10 to 17 per areole. It is in flower from March through June. It is found at elevations from 150 feet to 5,600 feet above sea level.

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