XCylindropuntia echinocarpa - Silver ChollaX
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Silver Cholla -or- Golden Cholla -or- Wiggins Cholla (Cylindropuntia echinocarpa), family Cactaceae (Cactus)
Silver Cholla is one of about 35 species in the genus Cylindropuntia, which was formerly calssed as a subspecies of the larger genus Opuntia. This distinction was made on differences in stem structure between the two. Per WIKIPEDIA is this: "based on their cylindrical stems (Opuntia species have flattened stems) and the presence of papery epidermal sheaths on the spines (Opuntia has no sheaths). Cylindropuntia are native to the southwest and southcentral United States, Mexico, and the West Indies". End quote.
USES: The website NATIVE AMERICAN ETHNOBOTANY lists a number of dietary uses of this species: Cocopa, Maricopa, Mojave Fruits rolled on ground to remove spines and eaten raw. Papago Buds and joints used as a staple crop. Pit baked buds, fruits and joints considered a staple food. Buds eaten as greens in May. Yavapai Fruit boiled and eaten without mashing.
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Plant location: Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge - Nevada - May 10, 2017
Species found in Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah.Plant -
Bloom season: March through June.
Habitats include Creosote Bush Scrub, Joshua Tree Woodland, Pinyon-Juniper WoodlandStem segments -
Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge - Nevada - May 10, 2017
Flora of North America offers this key to the flower structure of echinocarpa: Flowers: inner tepals light green to yellow-green, sometimes suffused with maroon or rose, spatulate, 20-23 mm, emarginate-apiculate; filaments greenish white or yellow, sometimes suffused with bronze or rose, but not red; anthers yellow; style and stigma lobes whitish, cream to light green. See the complete key, here. -
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