Plant Name
Scientific Name: Cylindropuntia leptocaulis
Synonym: Opuntia leptocaulis
Common Names: Christmas Cactus, Christmas Cholla, Pencil Cholla
Plant Characteristics
Duration: Perennial
Growth Habit: Shrub, Cactus
Arizona Native Status: Native
Habitat: Desert
Flower Color: Yellow-green to pale green, Yellow
Flowering Season: Spring (late), Summer
Height: To 3 feet (91 cm) tall
Description: The flowers are 1 inch (2.5 cm) wide and have narrow, point-tipped, shiny green tepals, green anther filaments, and a yellow style. The flowers are followed by bright red fruit dotted with bundles of cinnamon brown glochids (tiny areole spines). The colorful fruit remains on the plant throughout the winter, giving this cactus its festive Christmas color. The stems are slender, about 1/4 inch (6 mm) in diameter, green, and spiny near the stem tips with a single 2-inch (5 cm) long, golden brown spine on some of the areoles. Lower stem areoles are more likely to be spineless.
Special Characteristics
Legal Status – Protected Native Plant (Salvage Restricted)
Classification
Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Caryophyllidae
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Cactaceae – Cactus family
Genus: Cylindropuntia (Engelm.) Kreuzinger
Species: Cylindropuntia leptocaulis (DC.) F.M. Knuth – Christmas cactus
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