Cylindropuntia ramosissima

Illustrator: John Myers

Copyright: Flora of North America Association

Trees or shrubs, intricately branched, 0.5–2 m. Stem segments firmly attached, green drying gray and ropelike, cylindric, 2–8(–10) × 0.4–1 cm; tubercles rhombic, convex (flattened upon drying), 0.4–0.8 cm; areoles subcircular abaxially, adaxially becoming usually deltate-linear; glochid-bearing portion protruding distally, wedged between bases of 2 adjacent tubercles, (3–)4–7 × 1–1.5(–2) mm; wool tan to white. Spines 0–5 per areole, usually in distal areoles or sometimes absent or nearly so, tan to red-brown to deep purple, aging gray; major abaxial spines 0–1(–2), the longest spine spreading, (1.5–)2.5–6 cm; adaxial spines usually reflexed, short to ± 1 cm; sheaths baggy. Glochids in subcircular to linear adaxial tuft, yellow to tan to brown, to 2 mm. Flowers: inner tepals bronze-red ± suffused rose, with mid stripes darker, ovate, 6–13 mm, acute-apiculate to attenuate; filaments greenish; anthers yellow; style whitish or blushed with rose-pink or light green; stigma lobes whitish. Fruits maturing tan, ellipsoid to stipitate-ellipsoid, 15–30 × 10–15 mm, dry at maturity, tuberculate, developing increasingly burlike, with many bristlelike spines; areoles (32–)40–66, evenly spaced, woolly. Seeds pale yellow to tan-gray, angular to squarish in outline, warped, 4–4.5 × 3.5–4 mm, sides irregularly concave-convex; girdle smooth. 2n = 22, 44.

Phenology: Flowering spring–summer (Apr–Aug).
Habitat: Mojave and Sonoran deserts, washes, flats, and bajadas, sandy loam, desert pavement, stony volcanic substrates
Elevation: 50-1100 m

Distribution

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• Legacy Map

Ariz., Calif., Nev., Mexico (Baja California, Sonora).

Discussion

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.