Species Information
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Anthophyta
Class: Dicotyledoneae
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Cactaceae
Genus: Opuntia
Species: viridiflora
Santa Fe Cholla - Cylindropuntia viridiflora
Image courtesy of New Mexico Rare Plants
630839
Species Extent (New Mexico)
General Description
Plants shrubby, much-branched to about 0.8 m in height and about 2 meters across; main stems with lateral "joints" primarily in whorls at ends of each year's growth, some of these elongating into secondary main stems; stems 1.5-2 cm thick; lateral joints about 10-15 cm long, readily detached; stems with about 8 rows of longitudinally elongate tubercles, each tubercle about 1.5-2 cm long and bearing an areole near the apical end; spines apically barbed, 2-8 per areole on young stems (often more on older stems), 2-2.5 cm long, mostly brownish, epidermis forming a pale-purplish, pinkish, or brownish loose sheath; flowers 2-2.5 cm in diameter, comparatively brownish-orange in the center with greenish peripheral tepals (varying to a purplish-brownish-red); fruits tuberculate, firm and leathery, not juicy, yellow when ripe, persistent, 1.5-2.5 cm in diameter; seeds covered in a hard pale-yellowish aril, discoid with a narrow not prominent rim, about 3 mm in diameter. Flowers in July.
Status
Observations in Natural Heritage New Mexico Database
Number of Subpopulations: 5
Number of Mapped Locations: 10
Number of Observations: 18
Observation date range: 07-06-1911 to 06-15-2024
External Links
View More Information about this species at:
NatureServe Explorer
New Mexico Rare Plants Website
Environmental Conservation Online System (ECOS)
NatureServe Explorer
New Mexico Rare Plants Website
Environmental Conservation Online System (ECOS)