Cholla

Description

Cylindropuntia munzii is a species of plant in the genus Cylindropuntia in the cactus family (Cactaceae). Cylindropuntia munzii grows large in the form of a shrub or tree with a main trunk and reaches heights of 2 to 4 meters. The main branches are spread out and bear terminal tufts of hanging shoot sections. On the slightly sloping gray-green, 4 to 16 centimeters long and 1.2 to 2.5 centimeters in diameter measuring shoot sections are protruding narrow oval bumps. The rounded or triangular areoles with yellowish-brown wool turn gray with age and have inconspicuous yellow glochids that are 0.5 to 2 millimeters long. The seven to fourteen thornsare present on most areoles. They are erect to spread and circular to slightly flattened in cross-section. The thorns are yellow, turning reddish or black at the tips with age. The longest thorn is up to 3 centimeters long. Sometimes there are additional bristles at the edge of the areoles. The loosely fitting sheaths of the thorns are yellow to golden in colour. The flowers are light reddish to chestnut brown. The spherical, tan-colored fruits are dry, not thorny and fall off easily. They are clearly bumpy and richly covered with glochids. The fruits are 1.7 to 2.4 centimeters long and have a diameter of 1.7 to 2.1 centimeters. Cylindropuntia munzii is distributed in the United States in the state of California and in the Mexican state of Baja California in the Sonoran Desert at altitudes of up to 465 meters. The distribution area is less than 20,000 km². The first description as Opuntia munzii by Carl Brandt Wolf was published in 1938. Curt Backeberg placed the species in the genus Cylindropuntia in 1966. Another nomenclatural synonym is Grusonia munzii (CBWolf) GDRowley (2006). In the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, the species is listed as "Least Concern (LC)". H. listed as not endangered. The development of the populations is considered to be stable.