Accession Count: 5
Common Name:
Arizona pencil cholla, pencil cholla
Family Name:
Cactaceae
Botanical Name:
Cylindropuntia arbuscula
Sub Species:
Variety:
Forma:
Cultivar:
Characteristics:
Cylindropuntia arbuscula is a cactus with greenish-purple stem segments. Its glochids (barbed bristles) are pale yellow. The spines are stout, and yellow to reddish brown in color. C. arbuscula has fleshy, vermillion colored fruit.
Compound:
Cyl arb
Geographic Origin:
Sonoran desert
Ecozone Origin:
Nearctic
Biome Origin:
Natural History:
The C. arbuscula originates from the Sonoran desert, this encompasses from Pheonix, AZ to Ciudad Obregon, Mexico, thee being the pencil cholla most common places of siting(2).
Cultivation Notes:
C. arbuscula is a low maintenance plant. It fares best in locations with full sun, and requires little to no water, as it is native to the Sonoran Desert.
Ethnobotany:
The pencil cholla had many cuisine aspects to it; Its fruit was boiled with saltbush and used for food, the calyxe pits were roasted with inkweed and dried for future use or eaten fresh. Their flowers' pit was also roasted and eaten and the young joints of the plant can be boiled and eaten as a vegetable. Many of these practices were preformed in the time of the Papago(2). In more modern times the C. arbuscula is used in landscapes as a habitat, or as a rabbit deterrent(1).
Height:
6 - 10 feet
Width:
0 - 5 feet
Growth Rate:
Moderate Growing
Grow Season:
Flower Season:
ForeSummer
Color:
Pink
Function:
Habitat
Spread:
Non-spreading
Allergen:
Non-allergenic
Invasive:
Benign
Toxicity:
Benign
Hardy:
Hardy
Water Use:
Low water Use
Citations:
- Anderson, Edward F. The Cactus Family. 1st Edition. Timber Press Incorporated, 2001.
- swbiodiversity.org
