Cactus Index

 {Click on an image to enlarge, then use the back button to return to this page}

This page last updated on 04/29/2019

Page Notes: In addition to the brief synopsis provided here for each cacti, clicking on its title will take you to a page with additional pictures and info. Cacti are arranged alphabetically by their common name.         Banana Yucca (Yucca baccata-torr), a.k.a. Blue yucca, Fleshy-fruited yucca, and Datil Yucca, is often quite difficult. Those with broad leaves are sometimes called Spanish Daggers, a name generally applied to the tree-like species of western Texas. Banana yucca is closely related to the Mojave yucca (Y. schidigera), with which it is interspersed where their ranges overlap causing hybrids between them making identification even more difficult. The Banana Yucca with its bluish green leaves is a common species of fruiting cactus native to the deserts of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, from southeastern California north to Utah, east to western Texas and south to Sonora and Chihuahua. It gets its name from its banana-shaped fruit. For more detailed info and pictures, click the title above.

Beavertail Cactus (Opuntia basilaris) is a low, spreading cactus with short bristles grows 6 to 12 inches high and up to 6 feet wide. The gray-green, jointed stems are wide and flat resembling the tail of a beaver. Oval in shape, the stems are 1 to 6 inches wide and 2 to 13 inches long. The stems grow in clumps with flowers from the top edge of the joints. When in bloom from March to June, it has brilliant red-to-lavender flowers 2 to 3 inches wide with many petals. For more detailed info and pictures, click the title above.

Buckhorn Cholla (Cylindropuntia acanthocarpa) is an upright, branched, cylindrical-stemmed cactus with long stem segments and yellow spines. This cholla is similar to Silver Cholla, but in Buckhorn Cholla, the mature stem segments generally are longer than 6 inches, while those of Silver Cholla are less than 4-inches long. A mature plant can be about 5 to 10 feet in high. For more detailed info and pictures, click the title above.

Desert Spinystar (Escobaria vivipara) is a small, round cactus that grows to about 6 inches tall by 3-inches wide (though it is usually 3 by 2 or smaller), often remaining oblong or spherical.. The stem does not have the ribs (flutes) seen in some other cactus. Its short, usually solitary, rounded stem emerges from the ground un-branched. It is densely covered in a mat of star-shaped arrays of straight white spines .4 to .9 inches long (none are fish-hook shaped), with all of the spines pressed closely against the stem. For more detailed info and pictures, click the title above.

Golden Barrel Cactus (Echinocactus grusonii) grows as a large roughly spherical globe, that after many years, may eventually reach over 3 feet in height. Large plants attain a size of over 2 feet across, and may remain single or produce plantlets at the side to form a clump. There may be up to 35 pronounced ribs in mature plants, though they are not evident in young plants, which may have a knobby appearance. Their flowers are also golden yellow in color, emerging from the large patch of wool at the center of the plant. For more detailed info and pictures, click the title above.

Jumping Cholla (Cylindropuntia fulgida) is an arborescent (tree-like) plant with one low-branching trunk.  Its dense, 1 inch spines completely hide the stem. The cylindrical segments are light to bluish green. They are about 10 inches long and 2.5 inches in diameter. The jumping cholla can be 3 to 12 feet tall and has a single trunk with short drooping branches of chained fruit at the top. The stems are light green and are strongly tuberculate, with tubercles (small, wart-like projections on the stems). For more detailed info and pictures, click the title above.

Mojave Kingcup Cactus (Echinocereus mojavensis) is mound-shaped plant formed of many, densely packed stems that grows to a height of 12-16 inches. It is densely covered with gray, twisted and interlocking spines. The entire plant is a cylindrical mound, without a trunk, that is composed of up to about 500 individual bluish green stems, each usually less than about 2 inches diameter. Its has gray, round, curved (wavy) spines that grow to about 2 inches in length. Its inflorescence consists of solitary funnel-shaped, orange to deep red flowers that emerge from near the tip of individual stems. For more detailed info and pictures, click the title above.

Mojave Mound cactus (Echinocereus triglochidiatus)  a small barrel-shaped cactus and active perennial succulent, is a species of hedgehog cactus a.k.a Kingcup Cactus, Claretcup, Hedgehog and Claret Hedgehog. When its many stems are in full flower, making breathtaking mounds of scarlet, it can be one of the most beautiful cacti in the desert. In general it is a mounding cactus, forming bulbous piles of few to hundreds of spherical to cylindrical stems. It is densely spiny and somewhat woolly. There are a number of varieties of this highly variable cactus species, often with two strikingly different forms growing in the same area, but not all are universally recognized.For more detailed info and pictures, click the title above.

Mojave Yucca (Yucca schidigera), also known as the Spanish Dagger, is a flowering plant in the family Agavaceae. This small evergreen tree can grow 3 to 16 feet tall, with a dense crown of spirally arranged bayonet-like leaves on top of a conspicuous basal trunk. The leaves are narrow, linear, and spreading in all directions from the stem, and they are wide-based and have stiff, yellow-green blades 12" to 60" long and 1" to 1-1/2" wide.  They are also tipped with terminal spines and have coarse fibers along the margins, which Yucca whipplei lacks.  The cream-colored flowers appear in a long terminal cluster.  The individual flowers are large, pendent, bell shaped and occasionally have a purplish tinge. For more detailed info and pictures, click the title above.

Pencil Cholla (Cylindropuntia ramosissima), a.k.a. Diamond Cholla and Branched Pencil Cholla, is an upright, shrub-like cactus with very narrow stem segments and long, but sparse spines. The stem segments are short (to about 3-inches) and narrow (about 1/4-inch diameter). The spines tend to be solitary rather than clustered as in most cactus. Starting off as a low spreading cactus, this erect and treelike cactus can grow to a maximum height of 6 feet.For more detailed info and pictures, click the title above.

Prickly Pear Cactus (Opuntia engelmannii), has an overall form that is generally shrubby, with dense clumps that can grow from 12 inches to 11 feet high, usually with no apparent trunk. The pads are green (rarely blue-green), obovate to round, about 5-12 inches long and 4.5-8 inches wide. Its glochids (spines) are yellow initially, then brown with age. Spines are extremely variable, with anywhere from 1-8 per areole, and often absent from lower areoles; they are yellow to white, slightly flattened, and .5-3 inches long. The flowers are yellow, occasionally reddish, 2.5-4 inches in diameter and about as long. For more detailed info and pictures, click the title above. UPDATED on 06/07/13.

Prickly Pear Cactus (Opuntia-phaeacantha) typically grow with flat, fleshy pads that look like large leaves. These rounded platyclades are armed with two kinds of spines; large, smooth, fixed spines and small, hair-like prickles called glochids, that easily penetrate skin and detach from the plant. The pads are actually modified branches or stems that serve several functions -- water storage, photosynthesis and flower production. Many types of prickly pears grow into dense, tangled structures. For more detailed info and pictures, click the title above.
UPDATED on 06/21/13.

---

Red Compass Barrel Cactus (Ferocactus cylindraceus) is a large, round, barrel-shaped cactus with ribs (flutes) running from bottom to top. Barrel cactus start out short and wide (globular), then grow to about 5-ft tall and 16 inches in diameter. The plants are covered with relatively long, stout, flattened spines. The spines are erect and spreading, the longest are recurved, and they have some red color. Yellow flowers form a ring around the top of the stem. For more detailed info and pictures, click the title above.

---

Agave utahensis

{Click on an image to enlarge, then use the back button to return to this page}
This page last updated on 04/08/2018

(Fig. 01)

Picture Notes: The pictures shown here (Figs. 01 & 02) were taken while hiking the Calico Tank hike in Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. Read about this hike here ... Calico Tank Trail (RRNCA).

Description: Also known as the Century Plant, the agave family includes over 200 species. Agave utahensis is a species of agave known by the common name Utah agave. Varieties of the species include the Nevada agave and Kaibab agave. Agave utahensis is one of the more common agaves of the Southwest, ranging from the low elevation Mojave Desert of California and Nevada eastwards to the North Rim of Grand Canyon at elevations between 3000 and 7500 feet. A relatively small agave, the plant forms a dense but compact globular rosette of blue-green sharp-spiked dagger-shaped leaves, usually solitary but sometimes sprouting from the root system into small clusters, but it may produce a bloom stalk that rises 15 feet above the rosette. Leaves have a maximum length of 20 inches and range between half and nearly 2 inches in width. The upper surfaces are fairly flat, becoming slightly concave towards the tip, while the undersides are gently convex. The greyish teeth merge with the toughened edge towards the tip, leading to the stout apical spine. The raceme inflorescence is very tall, reaching a maximum of 4 m (12 ft). It is generally yellow or yellow-green with bulbous yellow flowers. The fruits are capsules 1 to 3 centimeters long and containing black seed. It can tolerate not only the heat of a desert summer, but also the below zero Fahrenheit temperatures of a southern Great Basin winter.

The agave was an important food source of the Indians in the Southwestern U.S. The pit was covered over with soil and and the crowns were roasted for two days. As part of a complex ritual, the center of the crowns would be eaten and some stored for later use.  The native Americans also ate the cooked agave leaves like artichokes or sometimes they boiled the leaves down to make a syrup. The plant was often used for food and fiber by local Native American peoples such as the Havasupai. Among the Navajo, the plant is used to make blankets.
                                           

(Fig. 02)

Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii)

{Click on an image to enlarge, then use the back button to return to this page}

This page last updated on 03/30/2018

(Fig. 01)

Picture Notes:  The picture in (Fig. 01) was taken along a hike in the Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument. Because it is still somewhat winter, they are all brown and pretty much dried out. Come spring and summer they will turn green and can actually begin to flower similar to that shown in (Fig. 02). For more on this hike and location go to ...  Tufa Beds Trails (TUSK) - Trip Notes for 03/28/2018.

Description:  The Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii), a.k.a. Claret Cup, Mojave Mound Cactus, Kingcup Cactus, Strawberry Hedgehog Cactus, and mound cactus, usually is a mound-shaped plant to about 1-1/2-feet tall and composed of several, stout, upright stems to about 3 feet in diameter. Stems rarely solitary. Its stem surface are ribbed, without tubercles. The spines are about 3-inches long, spreading, usually more or less straight, flat; usually reddish-brown with white margin; radial spines 6-14. The flowers bloom late spring to early summer. A solitary flower emerges from the side of the stem near the top and is funnel-shaped, reddish-purple to magenta, 2 to 3-inches diameter; anthers yellow. Engelmann's Hedgehog Cactus is a fairly common component of vegetation communities on gravelly and rocky soils along washes, rocky ridges, and upper bajadas and moderate slopes into the lower mountains in the Lower Sonoran life zones.
                             

(Fig. 02)

Banana Yucca (Yucca baccata Torr)

{Click on the image to view full size, then use the back button on your browser to return to this page}

(Fig. 01)

Picture Notes: The yuccas in (Figs. 01 & 04) were taken off of Nipton Road near the Crescent Peak Mine. The yuccas (Figs. 02 & 03) were captured on 03/26/2013 along the road leading to the Cottonwood Marina inside the Lake Mead National Recreation Area east of Searchlight, Nevada.

Description: Identification of Banana Yucca’s (Yucca baccata Torr), is a.k.a. Blue yucca, Fleshy-fruited yucca, and Datil Yucca, is often quite difficult. Those with broad leaves are sometimes called Spanish Daggers, a name generally applied to the tree-like species of western Texas. Plains identification of the many Yucca species is often difficult. Plains Yucca (Y. glauca), common from the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains eastward almost throughout the plains and prairies of the central United States, is a small species with narrow, gray-green leaves. Banana yucca is closely related to the Mojave yucca (Y. schidigera), with which it is interspersed where their ranges overlap causing hybrids between them making identification even more difficult. Both of these species are closely related. The main difference is the color of their leaves. Banana Yucca's leaves are bluish green, whereas Mojave Yucca's leaves are more green. Also, Banana Yuccas do not have trunks and grow directly on the ground. The Banana Yucca with its bluish green leaves is a common species of fruiting cactus native to the deserts of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, from southeastern California north to Utah, east to western Texas and south to Sonora and Chihuahua. It gets its name from its banana-shaped fruit. Y. baccata is recognized by having narrow, spine-tipped leaves 12-40 inches long with more of a blue-green color, and is a short single, stemless plant with nonexistent trunks and occur in an open cluster which is often wider than the leaves are high. It flowers in the spring, starting in April to July depending on locality (altitude). The flowering stalk is between 40-60 inches tall and bears large, pendant, fleshy, white to cream flowers with a red-purple tinge; flowers range from 2-5 inches. The indehiscent banana shaped fleshy fruits are sweet, 3-1/2-7 inches long and and cylindrical. Rigid, spine-tipped leaves in 1 or several rosettes, and a long cluster of large whitish flowers on a stalk about as tall as the leaves.

(Fig. 02)

(Fig. 03)

(Fig. 04)

Mojave Mound Cactus (Echinocereus triglochidiatus)

{Click on the image to view full size, then use the back button on your browser to return to this page}

Picture Notes: I found this cactus while hiking the area above Rainbow Spring off of Lovell Canyon Road. Check here for more information on the area … Daytrip - Rainbow Spring Road.

Description:  Mojave Mound Cactus (Echinocereus triglochidiatus), a small barrel-shaped cactus and active perennial succulent, is a species of hedgehog cactus a.k.a Kingcup Cactus, Claretcup, Hedgehog and Claret Hedgehog. When its many stems are in full flower, making breathtaking mounds of scarlet, it can be one of the most beautiful cacti in the desert. In general it is a mounding cactus, forming bulbous piles of few to hundreds of spherical to cylindrical stems. It is densely spiny and somewhat woolly. There are a number of varieties of this highly variable cactus species, often with two strikingly different forms growing in the same area, but not all are universally recognized. It can contain up to 300 stems in dense, woolly mound; each stem cylindrical or spherical, 2-12 inches tall or more, 1-6 inches diameter, with 5-12 ribs. It can grow to a height between 6-12 inches with a diameter to 48 inches. Blooming from April to June, depending on location and variety, the showy flower is a funnel or vase shaped bloom up to 8 or 9 centimeters wide and bright scarlet red to orange-red tepals. There is a thick nectar chamber and many thread-like pink stamens at the center of the corolla. The flowers are pollinated by hummingbirds. It produces a fruit that is a red oval berry, 0.5-1.5 inches with deciduous spines and is edible. This cactus is native to the southwestern United States from southeast California, east to southern Nevada and Utah, central Colorado, and west Texas, and into northern Mexico.  It is most abundant in shady areas against a rocky outcrop or within the rocky outcrop (Fig. 02). It can be found in the upper edge of Mojave Desert, coniferous forests, creosote bush scrub, Joshua Tree woodland and Pinyon-Juniper woodland. It likes gravelly soils in grasslands, shrub lands, pinyon/juniper, or aspen communities at altitudes of 500-10,000 feet. Its range is Southeast California, east to southern Nevada and Utah, central Colorado, and west Texas, and into Mexico.

Mojave Kingcup Cactus (Echinocereus mojavensis)

 {Click on an image to enlarge, then use the back button to return to this page}

This page last updated on 09/03/2017

(Fig. 01)

Picture Notes: I found this Mojave Kingcup Cactus (Figs. 01 & 02) on 06/05/2013 at the very top of Wheeler Pass. Though it appeared a little weathered, it was somewhat hidden, and protected, growing between a large rock and some nearby shrubs. Click this link to learn more about this outing … Daytrip - Wheeler Pass via Pahrump. The next time I found one of these blooming cactus (Figs. 03 &04) was on the Fletcher Canyon Trail inside the Mount Charleston Wilderness Area on 06/14/2017. Click this link to learn more about this hike ... Fletcher Canyon Trail Hike.                               (Fig. 02) (Fig. 03) (Fig. 04)

Description: Mojave Kingcup Cactus (Echinocereus mojavensis), a.k.a. Mojave Claret Cup Cactus, (Echinocereus triglochidiatus) and Mojave Hedgehog, is mound-shaped plant formed of many, densely packed stems that grows to a height of 12-16 inches. It is densely covered with gray, twisted and interlocking spines. The entire plant is a cylindrical mound, without a trunk, that is composed of up to about 500 individual bluish green stems, each usually less than about 2 inches diameter. The surface of the stems are ribbed, containing about 10 ribs per stem. Its has gray, round, curved (wavy) spines that grow to about 2 inches in length. Its twisting spines often interlock with those of neighboring stems to form a dense web of spines covering the entire mound. The spines are round rather than angled. Habitat: Creosote Bush Scrub, Joshua Tree Woodland, Pinyon-Juniper Woodland. The plants grow in gravelly soils in grasslands, shrub-lands, pinyon/juniper, or aspen communities. The plants often grow against a rocky outcrop or within the rocky outcrop. Kingcup Cactus is a fairly common component of desert vegetation found on well-drained gravelly and rocky soils on upper bajadas and slopes into the mountains in the Upper Sonoran life zones: (Pinyon-Juniper Woodlands), Transition (Yellow Pine Forests), and Canadian (Pine-Fir Forests). They are fairly common in the Pinyon-Juniper woodlands on Mt. Charleston and in the Mojave National Preserve. So they can occasionally be found as low as 500 feet in elevation, they can be found as high as 9,000 feet in elevation.  Flowering: Early for most cactus, it blooms between early to mid spring (Apr-Jun). Its inflorescence consists of solitary flowers that emerge from near the tip of individual stems. The flowers are a funnel-shaped; orange to deep red, and about 3-1/2-inches diameter (Fig. 04). It produces a cylindrical reddish fruit, about 1-inch long, 1/2-inch diameter. The flowers are pollinated by hummingbirds. Hummingbirds are the primary pollinators and must stick their entire head into the flower to reach the nectar chambers at the flower's base. In the process, the hummingbird's forehead gets dusted with pollen. (Sometimes they look like another species of hummingbird!) The flowers stay open at night, unlike many other species of cacti whose flowers close in the evening. The flowers last three to five days.

Pencil Cholla (Cylindropuntia ramosissima)

(Fig. 01)

Picture Notes: Each of the first three pictures (Figs. 01-03) were taken on 03/30/13 while hiking Grapevine Canyon near Laughlin, NV. As this was my first sighting of this cactus, I was amazed at how straight and long it spines were. The cactus in (Fig. 03) was nearly four feet wide and over three feet tall. Click here to learn more about this area … Grapevine Canyon. The last picture (Fig. 04) was taken on 03/21/13 in the gardens just outside the The Alan Bible Visitor Center located at the southern end of Lake Mead’s Lakeshore Drive. Click here to learn more about this area … Lakeshore Scenic Drive.

(Fig. 02) Description: Pencil Cholla (Cylindropuntia ramosissima), a.k.a. Diamond Cholla and Branched Pencil Cholla, is an upright, shrub-like cactus with very narrow stem segments and long, but sparse spines. The stem segments are short (to about 3-inches) and narrow (about 1/4-inch diameter). The spines tend to be solitary rather than clustered as in most cactus. Starting off as a low spreading cactus, this erect and treelike cactus can grow to a maximum height of 6 feet. The green stem color is clearly evident, however a lack of water may cause them to turn gray. Close-up views (Fig. 02) of the stem reveal surface lines in a diamond-shaped or crosshatch pattern. Its straight, round,radial spines range to about 2-inches long. When it blooms in early summer, its inflorescence consists of small solitary flowers (less than 1-inch across), yellow, orange, or red, at the ends of stem segments. Pencil Cholla usually is an uncommon component of vegetation communities on well-drained sandy, gravelly, and rocky soils on flats, bajadas, and moderate slopes into the lower mountains in the Lower Sonoran (Creosote-Bursage Flats) and Upper Sonoran (Mojave Desert Scrub) life zones. Occasionally, it can be found growing in relatively dense stands.

(Fig. 03)

(Fig. 04)

Prickly Pear Cactus (Opuntia engelmannii)

Picture Notes: Though I have observed these cacti in a variety of locations during my many hikes, all three of the examples shown here (Figs. 1-3) were found along Wheeler Pass Road near the summit of the pass, at an elevation of over 7,000 feet.

Description: Prickly Pear Cactus (Opuntia engelmannii), a.k.a. Cow's Tongue Cactus, Cow Tongue Prickly Pear, Desert Prickly Pear, Discus Prickly Pear, Engelmann's Prickly Pear, and Texas Prickly Pear, has an overall form that is generally shrubby, with dense clumps that can grow from 12 inches to 11 feet high, usually with no apparent trunk. The pads are green (rarely blue-green), obovate to round, about 5-12 inches long and 4.5-8 inches wide. Its glochids (spines) are yellow initially, then brown with age. Spines are extremely variable, with anywhere from 1-8 per areole, and often absent from lower areoles; they are yellow to white, slightly flattened, and .5-3 inches long. The flowers are yellow, occasionally reddish, 2.5-4 inches in diameter and about as long. The flowering period is usually between April and May, with each bloom lasting only one day, opening at about 8AM and closing 8 hours later. Pollinators include solitary bees, such as the Antophoridae, and sap beetles. After flowering it produces a purple fleshy fruit about 1-3.5 inches long. This species of prickly pear is common across the south-central and Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. In the Sonoran Desert, terminal pads face predominantly east-west, so as to maximize the absorption of solar radiation during summer rains. Although found occasionally in the Mojave Desert, it tends to be replaced by Opuntia basilaris (the Beavertail Cactus), which does not need the summer rain.

The Mojave Yucca (Yucca Schidigera)

(Fig. 01)

Picture Notes: On 03/26/2013, I captured most of these Mojave Yuccas (Figs. 01 & 02) along the road leading to the Cottonwood Marina inside the Lake Mead National Recreation Area east of Searchlight, Nevada.

(Fig. 02)

Description: The Mojave Yucca (Yucca schidigera), also known as the Spanish Dagger, is a flowering plant in the family Agavaceae. This small evergreen tree can grow 3 to 16 feet tall, with a dense crown of spirally arranged bayonet-like leaves on top of a conspicuous basal trunk. (Fig. 03) The leaves are narrow, linear, and spreading in all directions from the stem, and they are wide-based and have stiff, yellow-green blades 12" to 60" long and 1" to 1-1/2" wide.  They are also tipped with terminal spines and have coarse fibers along the margins, which Yucca whipplei lacks.  The cream-colored flowers (Fig. 05) appear in a long terminal cluster.  The individual flowers are large, pendent, bell shaped and occasionally have a purplish tinge.  The fruit (Fig. 03) is an oblong, elongate berry like capsule to 2" to 4" long with thick, obovoid seeds.  The bark is gray-brown, being covered with brown dead leaves near the top, becoming irregularly rough and scaly-to-ridged closer to the ground. Broad at their base, the leaves are long, concavo-convex, thick, very rigid, and yellow-green to blue-green in color. (Fig. 04) It is native to the Mojave Desert and Sonoran Desert of southeastern California, Baja California, southern Nevada and western Arizona. This yucca typically grows on dry rocky desert slopes and Creosote desert flats between 900-3600 feet in altitude, yet can be found up to 5,000 feet. They thrive in full sun and in soil with excellent drainage. It also needs no summer water. It is related to the Banana yucca (Y. baccata) (Fig. 04), which occurs in the same general area; hybrids between the two are sometimes found. In contrast, Banana Yucca tend to grow low to the ground on, at most, very short trunks, with leaves that are bluish. They both bloom from April to May. The fibers of the leaves were used by Native Americans to make rope, sandals, and cloth. The flowers and fruit could be eaten and the black seeds were ground into a flour. The roots were used to make soap. Currently extracts from this plant are in animal feed and various herbal medications. Some reports claim that Native Americans washed their hair with yucca to fight dandruff and hair loss. Among the other maladies this yucca has been used to treat are headaches, bleeding, gonorrhea, arthritis and rheumatism. Also used as a natural deodorizer. Used in pet deodorizers.

(Fig. 05)

Fishhook cactus (Mammillaria tetrancistra)

 {Click on an image to enlarge, then use the back button to return to this page}

This page last updated on 04/20/2019

(Fig. 01)

(Fig. 02)

(Fig. 03)

Picture Notes: On 04/16/2019 while hiking along Rockefeller Road near the Irebetba Peaks we found several instances of these Desert Spinystar cacti growing directly out of the surrounding rock (Figs. 01 & 02). They are either a Desert Spinystar or one of the more than 171 known species of the Pincushion (Cactaceae Mammillaria). I’m still not 100% sure of the identification. This is only the third time I have had sightings of these relatively rare cacti. On 11/08/2012, one of my fellow hiking partners spotted this nearly hidden cactus (Fig. 03) while hiking to the abandoned Whale Mine off of Sandy Valley Road.  The view in (Fig. 04) gives you a better idea of its size and how hard it can be to sometimes spot these small little cactus. In February 2013, I found a relatively large cluster of these (Figs. 05-07) while hiking around the 99 mine site on the west side of Cottonwood Valley.

(Fig. 04)

(Fig. 05)

(Fig. 06)

(Fig. 07)

Description: The Fishhook Cactus (Mammillaria tetrancistra). It is native to the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts of northern Mexico and the southwestern United States, where it grows in a variety of desert habitat types. This cactus generally has a single cylindrical stem a few centimeters wide and up to about 25 centimeters tall. Each cluster of spines is made up of 3 or 4 dark, hooked central spines and many straight, white radial spines, the longest reaching 2. 5 centimeters in length. The flower is 2 to 4 centimeters wide and pink to lavender in color. The fruit is red, shiny, and fleshy and contains many black seeds coated in corky arils. This cactus generally has a single cylindrical stem a few centimeters wide and up to about 25 centimeters tall. Each cluster of spines is made up of 3 or 4 dark, hooked central spines and many straight, white radial spines, the longest reaching 2. 5 centimeters in length. The flower is 2 to 4 centimeters wide and pink to lavender in color. The fruit is red, shiny, and fleshy and contains many black seeds coated in corky arils. Escobaria vivipara is a species of cactus known by several common names, including spinystar, viviparous foxtail cactus, pincushion cactus and ball cactus. It is a small, round cactus that grows to about 6 inches tall by 3-inches wide (though it is usually 3 by 2 or smaller), often remaining oblong or spherical. The stem does not have the ribs (flutes) seen in some other cactus. Its short, usually solitary, rounded stem emerges from the ground un-branched. It is densely covered in a mat of star-shaped arrays of straight white spines .4 to .9 inches long (none are fish-hook shaped), with all of the spines pressed closely against the stem. The club-shaped red fruits are 10 to 20 millimeters long and contain little brown, rough seeds. They tend to grow in non calcareous dry granite-based soil but can also grow in rocky habitats, either in rock fissures or directly on top of the rock surface even without the presence of soil. Thus, the mineral composition of the rocks in their habitat directly influence their abundance. They like Limestone soils and can be found on rocky limestone outcrops and along limestone ridges at elevations between 3,300 to 8,000 feet from southeastern California, southern Nevada, Southwest Utah, to northwest Arizona. Living in dry gravely areas, usually below 4,500 feet, it blooms between April and May. This species is difficult to find because they are small and occur infrequently, however, they tend to grow in small groups, so if you find one, look around for more. The water source for these cactus is mainly rainfall, and when there is a lot of rain, its blossoms are especially beautiful. In order to survive in the harsh Mojave and Sonoran deserts, it hangs onto its water by having spines instead of leaves. This slows evaporation. The spines are often translucent white, and they completely hide the surface of the plant. It would be hard for the animals to eat one since it is covered in spines.  Return to Ireteba Peaks Wilderness Area - 04/16/2019 Trip Notes.

Beavertail Cactus (Opuntia basilaris)

{Click on any image to view full size, then use the back button on your browser to return to this page}
This page last updated on 04/19/2020

(Fig. 01) Picture Notes: On 04/02/2011, on a recent trip to the Techatticup Mine in Eldorado Canyon, NV, I was able to capture these pictures of one of my favorite cacti when in bloom, the Beavertail Cactus. Notice that the one in (Fig. 01) above actually has a bumble bee nestled in the center, gathering pollen from its stamen (click the picture to enlarge full size). The picture in (Fig. 02) was taken on 04/01/2020 on the way to the marina east of Searchlight. As can be seen in (Fig. 03) only a small portion of the hundreds of buds were actually in bloom due to the relatively cold spring we have been experiencing.

Description: Opuntia basilaris, or more commonly called, the Beavertail Cactus. This low, spreading cactus with short bristles grows 6 to 12 inches high and up to 6 feet wide. The gray-green, jointed stems are wide and flat resembling the tail of a beaver. Oval in shape, the stems are 1 to 6 inches wide and 2 to 13 inches long. The stems grow in clumps with flowers from the top edge of the joints. When in bloom from March to June, it has brilliant red-to-lavender flowers 2 to 3 inches wide with many petals. Flowers are followed by a brownish-gray, oval fruit more than an inch long with many seeds. It is found in southwest USA, mostly in the Mojave and Colorado Deserts, and also in northwest Mexico. The Beavertail Cactus is a smaller prickly pear cactus with hundreds of fleshy, blue-gray, flattened pads. They are usually spineless, but have instead small barbed bristles, called glochids, that easily penetrate the skin. (Fig. 02) (Fig. 03)

Buckhorn Cholla (Cylindropuntia acanthocarpa)

(Fig. 01)

Picture Notes: This shot (Fig. 01) was taken on a hike through the Wee Thump Joshua Tree Wilderness Area along the Joshua Tree Highway on 02/24/2011. The cactus in (Fig. 02) was taken at the Techatticup Mining Camp off Nelson Road in Eldorado Canyon.

Description: The Buckhorn Cholla (Cylindropuntia acanthocarpa) is an upright, branched, cylindrical-stemmed cactus with long stem segments and yellow spines. This cholla is similar to Silver Cholla, but in Buckhorn Cholla, the mature stem segments generally are longer than 6 inches, while those of Silver Cholla are less than 4-inches long. A mature plant can be about 5 to 10 feet in high. Buckhorn Cholla is a common component of vegetation communities on well-drained sandy, gravelly, and rocky soils on upper bajadas and moderate slopes into the lower mountains in the Upper Sonoran  and Mojave Desert, up to about 5,000 feet. The chollas bloom in April or May and produce bright flowers to 2 1/4 inches wide that range in color from red, yellow, orange, pink, & purple to greenish or brownish. After flowering, the plants produce fruit. The fruit of the Buckhorn Cholla tends to be dry with long spines. The fruit falls from the plant after a few months.

(Fig. 02)

[Wee Thump Joshua Tree Wilderness Area - Summary Page]