| Teddy-bear cholla | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Order: | Caryophyllales |
| Family: | Cactaceae |
| Genus: | Cylindropuntia |
| Species: | C. bigelovii |
| Binomial name | |
| Cylindropuntia bigelovii | |
| Synonyms | |
Opuntia bigelovii | |
Cylindropuntia bigelovii, the teddy-bear cholla, is a cholla cactus species native to Northwestern Mexico, and to the United States in California, Arizona, and Nevada.
Cylindropuntia bigelovii has a soft appearance due to its solid mass of very formidable spines that completely cover the stems, leading to its sardonic nickname of "teddy bear".
The teddy-bear cholla stands 1 to 5 ft (0.30 to 1.52 m) tall with a distinct trunk. The branches or lobes are at the top of the trunk and are nearly horizontal. Lower branches typically fall off, and the trunk darkens with age. The silvery-white spines, which are actually a form of leaf, almost completely obscure the stem with a fuzzy-looking but impenetrable defense. The spines are 1 in (2.5 cm) long and covered with a detachable, paper-like sheath. [2]
The yellow-green flowers emerge at the tips of the stems in May and June. Flowers are usually 3.6 cm (1.4 in) in length and produce fruit that is 1.9 cm (0.75 in) in diameter, tuberculate, and may or may not have spines. These fruits contain few if any viable seeds as the plant usually reproduces through a dispersal strategy of dropped or carried stems. [3] These stems are often carried for some distance by sticking to the fur or skin of animals and are especially painful to remove. [4] When a piece of this cholla sticks to an animal or person, a good method to remove the cactus is with a hair comb. The spines have microscopic barbs which point backwards and hold on tightly. Often small stands of these chollas form, most of which are clones of the same individual.
Like its cousin the jumping cholla, the stems detach easily, and the ground around a mature plant is often littered with scattered cholla balls and small plants starting where these balls have rooted.
Desert pack rats such as the desert woodrat gather these balls around their burrows, creating a defense against most predators like kit fox and coyote, however several species of snake feed on the rat, keeping its population balanced. [5]
The cactus wren can be found perched on the cholla and other cacti. They also use a variety of cacti for nesting purposes. [5]
The "jumping" part of the name is said to originated because a person walking in the desert can step on a stem on the ground with heel of a boot or shoe can cause the stem to swivel up and embed spines in the walker's calf.
Cylindropuntia bigelovii grows in desert regions at elevations to about 3,000 ft (900 m) in the "Low Desert" or Colorado Desert of Southern California, and in other Sonoran Desert regions of the Southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. [2]
In the Lower Colorado River Valley, the most dense Cylindropuntia bigelovii stands are at higher elevations, in the rockiest sites. There are fewer Sonoran Desert or Colorado Desert plant association species, but two are common though reduced in size: ocotillo (Fouquieria splendens) and saguaro (Carnegiea gigantea).
The teddy bear cholla is also found in a protected Cholla Cactus Garden as part of the Joshua Tree National Park among other desert plants such as the desert senna, pencil cholla, creosote bush, jojoba, and climbing milkweed Funastrum cynanchoides which can climb and cover the teddy bear cholla and may even kill it. [5]
A cactus is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1,750 known species of the order Caryophyllales. The word cactus derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Greek word κάκτος (káktos), a name originally used by Theophrastus for a spiny plant whose identity is now not certain. Cacti occur in a wide range of shapes and sizes. They are native to the Americas, ranging from Patagonia in the south to parts of western Canada in the north, with the exception of Rhipsalis baccifera, which is also found in Africa and Sri Lanka. Cacti are adapted to live in very dry environments, including the Atacama Desert, one of the driest places on Earth. Because of this, cacti show many adaptations to conserve water. For example, almost all cacti are succulents, meaning they have thickened, fleshy parts adapted to store water. Unlike many other succulents, the stem is the only part of most cacti where this vital process takes place. Most species of cacti have lost true leaves, retaining only spines, which are highly modified leaves. As well as defending against herbivores, spines help prevent water loss by reducing air flow close to the cactus and providing some shade. In the absence of true leaves, cacti's enlarged stems carry out photosynthesis.
The Sonoran Desert is a hot desert in North America and ecoregion that covers the northwestern Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur, as well as part of the southwestern United States. It is the hottest desert in both Mexico and the United States. It has an area of 260,000 square kilometers (100,000 sq mi).
Fouquieria splendens is a plant indigenous to the Mojave Desert, Sonoran Desert, Chihuahuan Desert and Colorado Desert in the Southwestern United States, and northern Mexico.
Barrel cacti are various members of the two genera Echinocactus and Ferocactus, endemic to the deserts of Southwestern North America southward to north central Mexico. Some of the largest specimens are found in the Sonoran Desert.
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 imbricata, the cane cholla, is a cactus found in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico, including some cooler regions in comparison to many other cacti. It occurs primarily in the arid regions of the Southwestern United States in the states of Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and Nevada. It is often conspicuous because of its shrubby or even tree-like size, its silhouette, and its long-lasting yellowish fruits.
Cylindropuntia is a genus of cacti, containing species commonly known as chollas, native to northern Mexico and the Southwestern United States. They are known for their barbed spines that tenaciously attach to skin, fur, and clothing. Stands of cholla are called cholla gardens. Individuals within these colonies often exhibit the same DNA, as they were formerly tubercles of an original plant.
Cylindropuntia acanthocarpa, commonly referred to as buckhorn cholla, is a cholla native to the Mojave, Sonoran, and Colorado Deserts of North America. Along with Cylindropuntia bigelovii, it is the most common cholla found in these deserts.
The mountains in the McCullough Range lie mostly above the city of Henderson in the U.S. state of Nevada. The range has two distinct areas with the northern portion being primarily volcanic in origin, while the southern part of the range is primarily composed of metamorphic rock.
The white-throated woodrat is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. It is found from central Mexico north to Utah and Colorado in the United States. It is primarily a western species in the United States, extending from central Texas west to southeastern California. Populations east of the Rio Grande in New Mexico and Trans-Pecos Texas, previously considered to be variants of the white-throated woodrat, have since 1988 been assigned to the white-toothed woodrat.
The saguaro is a tree-like cactus species in the monotypic genus Carnegiea that can grow to be over 12 meters tall. It is native to the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, the Mexican state of Sonora, and the Whipple Mountains and Imperial County areas of California. The saguaro blossom is the state wildflower of Arizona. Its scientific name is given in honor of Andrew Carnegie. In 1994, Saguaro National Park, near Tucson, Arizona, was designated to help protect this species and its habitat.
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.
Cylindropuntia californica is a species of cholla cactus known by the common name snake cholla. It is primarily found in Baja California, Mexico and the southernmost part of California in the United States. It is characterized by a short, decumbent habit, yellow-green flowers, elongated stems, and short spines. It is mostly found in coastal sage scrub and coastal chaparral habitats, but two varieties in Baja California can be found in foothills and deserts. In California, variety californica is regarded as a rare and threatened plant, with a California Native Plant Society listing of 1B.1, in part due to its limited number of occurrences and threats from development. It formerly was considered to have a larger range due to the inclusion of Cylindropuntia bernardina within it as the variety parkeri.
Cylindropuntia wolfii is a species of cactus known by the common name Wolf's cholla.
Cylindropuntia leptocaulis, the desert Christmas cactus, desert Christmas cholla, pencil cactus, or tasajillo, is a species of cholla cactus.
Cylindropuntia abyssi, common name Peach Springs cholla, is a species of cactus endemic to northwestern Arizona. It is known from only from the Grand Canyon and in Peach Springs Canyon, on the Hualapai Reservation in Mohave County. It grows in desert scrub on limestone ledges and hilltops. The natural range of the species is fairly small, but it is locally abundant and growing in an isolated area with few threats to the species survival.
Flora of the Sonoran Desert includes six subdivisions based on vegetation types. Two are north of the boundary between the United States and Mexico, and four are south of the boundary. The flora of the Colorado Desert are influenced by the environment of the very dry and hot lower areas of the Colorado River valley, which may be barren, treeless, and generally have no large cacti. Flora of the Arizona Upland are comparatively lush, with trees and large columnar cacti that can withstand winter frosts. Those subdivisions of the Sonoran Desert which lie south of the international border are characterized by plants that cannot withstand frost.
Mammillaria fraileana is one of about 200 species of the genus Mammillaria from the cactus family Cactaceae. This species is native to Mexico and can be found along the east coast of the southern part of Baja California Peninsula in Desert Scrub communities. They tend to grow in non-calcareous dry granite-based soil but can also grow in rocky habitats, either in rock fissures or directly on top of the rock surface even without the presence of soil. Thus, the mineral composition of the rocks in their habitat directly influences their abundance. The habitat of Mammillaria fraileana is home to succulent flora and is particularly rich in local endemics. Currently, no major threats to the species are known to exist.
Cylindropuntia fosbergii is a species of cactus known by the common names Hoffmann's teddybear cholla, pink teddy-bear cholla, and Mason Valley cholla. It is endemic to south-eastern California where its range is restricted to the flats and hillsides of a very limited area in the region of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in the western Sonoran Desert.
Cylindropuntia bernardina is a species of cholla cactus commonly known as the cane cholla or valley cholla, native to California and northwestern Baja California. It is an erect cholla that grows up to 2–3 meters tall, and occurs primarily in the foothills of the Transverse and Peninsular Ranges, parts of the Sonoran Desert, and in the Coast Ranges with a few populations around the Cuyama River. It was formerly placed as the variety parkeri of Cylindropuntia californica until it was renamed to C. bernardina. It is more closely related to Cylindropuntia ganderi than to C. californica.
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