The cane cholla (or tree cholla, chainlink cactus, etc.) is a large cactus of arid North America. Scientific classification or biological classification is how biologists group and categorize extinct and living species of organisms. ... Divisions Land plants (embryophytes) Non-vascular plants (bryophytes) Hepatophyta - liverworts Anthocerophyta - hornworts Bryophyta - mosses Vascular plants (tracheophytes) Lycopodiophyta - clubmosses Equisetophyta - horsetails Pteridophyta - true ferns Psilotophyta - whisk ferns Ophioglossophyta - adderstongues Seed plants (spermatophytes) †Pteridospermatophyta - seed ferns Pinophyta - conifers Cycadophyta - cycads Ginkgophyta - ginkgo Gnetophyta - gnetae Magnoliophyta - flowering plants Adiantum pedatum (a fern... Classes Magnoliopsida - Dicots Liliopsida - Monocots The flowering plants (also angiosperms or Magnoliophyta) are one of the major groups of modern plants, comprising those that produce seeds in specialized reproductive organs called flowers, where the ovulary or carpel is enclosed. ... Orders see text Dicotyledons or dicots are flowering plants whose seed contains two embryonic leaves or cotyledons. ... Families Achatocarpaceae Aizoaceae (Fig-marigold family) Amaranthaceae (amaranth family) Ancistrocladaceae Asteropeiaceae Barbeuiaceae Basellaceae (basella family) Cactaceae (cactus family) Caryophyllaceae (carnation family) Dioncophyllaceae Droseraceae (sundew family) Drosophyllaceae Frankeniaceae Molluginaceae (carpetweed family) Nepenthaceae Nyctaginaceae (four-oclock family) Physenaceae Phytolaccaceae (pokeweed family) Plumbaginaceae (plumbago family) Polygonaceae (buckwheat family) Portulacaceae (purslane family) Rhabdodendraceae... This article is about the desert plant. ... Species Many, see text Opuntia is a genus in the cactus family Cactaceae. ... In biology, binomial nomenclature is a standard convention used for naming species. ... Adrian Hardy Haworth (1767 _ 1833) was an English entomologist and botanist. ... Augustin Pyrame de Candolle Augustin Pyrame de Candolle (February 4, 1778 - September 9, 1841) was a Swiss botanist. ... World map showing location of North America A satellite composite image of North America North America is a continent in the northern hemisphere, bounded on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the south by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west...

It grows in dry areas from Utah, New Mexico and west Texas (rarely northeast to western Kansas) south to northern Mexico. It occurs at altitudes from 1200 m to 2300 m (4000 to 7500 feet) and is hardy for a cactus (USDA Zone 5A^[[1]]). State nickname: Beehive State Other U.S. States Capital Salt Lake City Largest city Salt Lake City Governor Jon M. Huntsman, Jr. ... State nickname: Land of Enchantment Other U.S. States Capital Santa Fe Largest city Albuquerque Governor Bill Richardson Official languages English and Spanish Area 315,194 km² (5th)  - Land 314,590 km²  - Water 607 km² (0. ... State nickname: Lone Star State Other U.S. States Capital Austin Largest city Houston Governor Rick Perry (R) Official languages None. ... State nickname: The Sunflower State Other U.S. States Capital Topeka Largest city Wichita Governor Kathleen Sebelius (D) Official languages None Area 82,277 mi²; 213,096 km² (15th)  - Land 81,815 mi²; 211,900 km²  - Water 462 mi²; 1,196 km² (0. ... Plant Hardiness Zone Map USDA Plant Hardiness Zones are areas in North America categorized according to their lowest winter temperatures. ...

The above-ground part consists of much-branched cylindrical stems, the end joints being about 3 cm in diameter. The joints, unlike those of some chollas, are hard to detach. The stems are highly tubercular (lumpy) with a pattern of long oval lumps. A typical height is about 1 m, but exceptionally it can grow to 4.6 m (15 ft) with a "trunk" diameter of 25 cm (10 in). The width is often similar to or somewhat greater than the height. The stems are armed with clusters of up to about 10 whitish spines, which may be 2.5 cm (1 in) long and are barbed and sharp enough to easily penetrate leather gardening gloves. The stems and fruits also have many spines or "glochids" about 1mm long that detach and stick annoyingly in the skin.

Flowers and previous year's fruit

This species blooms in late spring or early summer. The flowers, at the ends of the terminal joints, are purple or magenta, rarely rose-pink, about 5 cm (2 in) wide. The fruits are yellowish green, tubercular like the stems, and shaped something like the frustum of a cone, with a hollow at the wide end where the flower fell off; they are often mistaken for flowers. The plant retains them all winter. Unlike the fruits of some Opuntia species, they are dry and not tasty, though the Indians of Arizona and New Mexico are said to have eaten them. State nickname: The Grand Canyon State, The Copper State Other U.S. States Capital Phoenix Largest city Phoenix Governor Janet Napolitano (D) Official languages English Only State Area 295,254 km² (6th)  - Land 294,312 km²  - Water 942 km² (0. ...

In parts of its range, often just below the pinyon-juniper belt, it can be abundant, surrounded by low grasses and forbs that are brown most of the year; in such places chollas are conspicuous as the only tall green plant. Plants may form thickets or be spaced at a few times their width in "gardens". In popular language grass means a short, green, ground covering or lawn, usually, but not necessarily comprised of a true grass or grasses, called turf. ... A forb is a non-woody flowering plant that is not a grass. ...

The plants are sometimes grown as ornamentals, despite their sharp thorns and tendency to spread. Dead stems decay to leave a hollow wooden tube with a regular pattern of diamond-shaped holes. These are sometimes used as canes or to make decorative curios. The Penitentes of New Mexico formerly tied fresh stems to their bare backs in Holy Week processions. Holy Week is the Christian week from Palm Sunday through Holy Saturday. ...

References

Francis H. Elmore, Trees and Shrubs of the Southwest Uplands, ISBN 091140841X

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