Cylindropuntia bigelovii

Cylindropuntia bigelovii Teddy bear Cholla
File:Cylindropuntia bigelovii.jpg
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Core eudicots
Order:	Caryophyllales
Family:	Cactaceae
Genus:	Cylindropuntia
Species:	C. bigelovii
Binomial name
Cylindropuntia bigelovii (Engelm.) F.M.Knuth
Synonyms
Opuntia bigelovii

Cylindropuntia bigelovii, the teddy bear cholla, is a cholla cactus species native to California, Arizona, and Nevada (USA) and Northwestern Mexico.

Description

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 is an erect plant, 1 to 5 ft (0.30 to 1.52 m) tall with a distinct trunk. The branches 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 are covered with a detachable, paper-like sheath.

The yellow-green flowers emerge at the tips of the stems in May and June, and the fruits that follow usually have no viable seed. Flowers are usually 3.6 cm (1.4 in) in length. The fruit is 1.9 cm (0.75 in) in diameter, tuberculate, and may or may not have spines. These cacti produce few seeds, as the plant usually reproduces from dropped stems. These stems are often carried for some distance by sticking to the hair of animals. Often small "stands" of these chollas form that are largely clones of one 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. When a piece of this cholla sticks to an unsuspecting person, a good method to remove the cactus is with a hair comb. The spines are barbed, and hold on tightly. Desert pack rats such as the Desert Woodrat gather these balls around their burrows, creating a defense against predators.

The teddy-bear cholla is extremely combustible.

Distribution

Cylindropuntia bigelovii, the Teddy-bear cholla, grow in desert regions at elevations to about in the "Low Desert" or Colorado Desert of Southern California, and in other Sonoran Desert regions of the Southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico.

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).

Gallery

• Teddy-bear cholla 1.jpg

  A stand of Cylindropuntia bigelovii

• Opuntia bigelovii 2.jpeg

  Close up of teddy-bear cholla

• Flowering teddy bear cholla 319.JPG

  Flowering Cylindropuntia bigelovii

• 

  Blooming Cylindropuntia bigelovii with bird nest, in Anza Borrego Desert State Park

• Ventilated Wood.JPG

  Skeleton of a dead Teddy Bear Cholla—commonly known as "Ventilated Wood". Taken on the south side of Donnell Hill, Twentynine Palms, CA on 28July2014

References

• The Living Desert
• Teddy-bear Cholla - University of Arizona Pima County Cooperative Extension entry

External links

• Jepson Manual Treatment of Cylindropuntia bigelovii
• USDA Plants Profile for Cylindropuntia bigelovii (teddy-bear cholla)
• Cylindropuntia bigelovii — UC Photo gallery