Plant Species of the Borrego Desert: Cactaceae
Table of Contents
Flowers Shown At Relative Size
Species List and Abundance
Flowers Shown At Relative Size
Flowers of 15 of our Cactaceae species shown at their relative sizes,
| |
Cylindropuntia ramosissima (pink) | 
Cylindropuntia ramosissima (yellow) |
Mammillaria dioica | 
Cylindropuntia fosbergii |
Cylindropuntia bigelovii | 
Mammillaria tetrancistra |
Cylindropuntia echinocarpa | 
Cylindropuntia californica parkeri |
Cylindropuntia wolfii (red) | 
Cylindropuntia wolfii (yellow) |
Echinocactus polycephalus | 
Ferocactus cylindraceus |
Cylindropuntia ganderi | 
Opuntia chlorotica |
| (Intentionally blank) | 
Opuntia basilaris |
| (Intentionally blank) | 
Echinocereus engelmannii |
| (Intentionally blank) | 
Opuntia phaeacantha (salmon) |
| (Intentionally blank) | 
Opuntia phaeacantha (yellow) |
| Top two rows repeated here for comparison of the smallest to the largest | |
|
Cylindropuntia ramosissima (pink) |
Cylindropuntia ramosissima (yellow) |
|
Mammillaria dioica |
Cylindropuntia fosbergii |
| Fig. 1. Flowers of 15 of our Cactaceae species, shown at their relative sizes by scaling to the maximum diameter of the flower given in Benson 1969 (with one exception; see Table 1). Three species that have significant variation in the color of their flowers each have two pix above labeled with the color.
Two of our species are not shown here. Opuntia engelmannii is difficult to distinguish from O. phaeacantha, and so there is no photograph that I am certain is from that species. It has a very similar flower to O. phaeacantha. Opuntia polyacantha var. erinacea is only known from near Rabbit Peak in our area, and no one has ever photographed it in bloom there. All photographs from Fred Melgert and Carla Hoegen except Echinocactus polycephalus from Bill Sullivan, and Mammillaria tetrancistra from Karyn Sauber. The photographs from Fred and Carla are all from their Anza Borrego Desert Wildflowers Cactaceae site except for one from their iNat post for Opuntia chlorotica. See Fred and Carla's site for many more beautiful photographs of all of our species. | |
Table 1. Flower diameter usual maximum given in Benson 1969
| Scientific Name | Common Name | Flower diameter usual max | |
|---|---|---|---|
| inches | mm | ||
| Cylindropuntia bigelovii | teddy-bear cholla | 1.5 | 38 |
| Cylindropuntia californica var. parkeri | cane cholla | 1.5 | 38 |
| Cylindropuntia echinocarpa | silver cholla | 1.5 | 38 |
| Cylindropuntia fosbergii | pink teddy-bear cholla | 1.5 | 38 |
| Cylindropuntia ganderi | Gander's cholla | 2.25 | 57 |
| Cylindropuntia ramosissima | pencil or diamond cholla | [1*] | [25*] |
| Cylindropuntia wolfii | Wolf's cholla | 2 | 51 |
| Echinocactus polycephalus var. polycephalus =Homalocephala polycephala var. polycephala | cottontop cactus | 2 | 51 |
| Echinocereus engelmannii | Engelmann's hedgehog cactus | 3 | 76 |
| Ferocactus cylindraceus | California barrel cactus | 2.5 | 64 |
| Mammillaria dioica | California fish-hook cactus | 1 | 25 |
| Mammillaria tetrancistra | desert fish-hook cactus | 1.5 | 38 |
| Opuntia basilaris var. basilaris | beavertail cactus | 3 | 76 |
| Opuntia chlorotica | pancake prickly-pear | 2.5 | 64 |
| Opuntia engelmannii var. engelmannii | Engelmann prickly-pear | 3.25 | 83 |
| Opuntia phaeacantha | desert prickly-pear | 3.25 | 83 |
| Opuntia polyacantha var. erinacea =Opuntia erinacea var. erinacea | Mojave prickly-pear | 3.625 | 92 |
* Benson has an error for the maximum size of the width of the flower of C. ramosissima, giving it as 0.5 inch (13 mm). The maximum size is at least one inch, from measurements on four different online vouchers, and from the ratio of the flower width to stem width, using a range of possible stem widths, in nine different online photos. Three webpages also give one inch as the maximum, or typical, width. Benson's value of 0.5 inch has propagated into a number of other references, such as Cornett 2015, Bowers and Tekiela 2008, and Yaeger 1941 (from his illustration).
Benson gave the maximum values in inches to the nearest 1/8, 1/4 or 1/2 inch, depending on the species. For two species, he gave a larger value that he said was only rarely seen: 2.5 inches (64 mm) for Cylindropuntia echinocarpa, and 1.5 inches (38 mm) for Mammillaria dioica. It would be good to verify the maximum diameters in our area from field measurements.
Species List and Abundance
| Scientific Name | Common Name | #Lists^ | #Vouchers | #iNat | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cylindropuntia bigelovii | teddy-bear cholla | 50 | 43 | 960 | Abundant; widespread |
| Cylindropuntia californica var. parkeri | cane cholla | 3 | 69 | 93 | Abundant; widespread, mostly coastal side of mountains, west of C. ganderi. Primarily in San Felipe Valley in our area. |
| Cylindropuntia echinocarpa | silver cholla | 26 | 50 | 585 | Abundant, widespread, mostly in desert floor below 1000 feet elevation |
| Cylindropuntia fosbergii | pink teddy-bear cholla | 0 | 21 | 4306+ | Abundant, but local; endemic to our area, only found from Mason Valley to Indian Gorge |
| Cylindropuntia ganderi | Gander's cholla | 58 | 111 | 1433 | Abundant, widespread in desert transition zone, between C. californica parkeri and C. echinocarpa |
| Cylindropuntia ramosissima | pencil or diamond cholla | 18 | 23 | 399 | Abundant, but local, in older alluvium of the desert floor |
| Cylindropuntia wolfii | Wolf's cholla | 1 | 31 | 89* | Abundant, but only at south end of the Park |
| Echinocactus polycephalus var. polycephalus =Homalocephala polycephala var. polycephala | cottontop cactus | 3 | 10 | 68* | Rare here, only near Smoke Tree Canyon in the north, and Coyote Mountains in the south. Abundant outside of our area. |
| Echinocereus engelmannii | Engelmann's hedgehog cactus | 46 | 113 | 1236 | Abundant; widespread |
| Ferocactus cylindraceus | California barrel cactus | 57 | 74 | 2317 | Abundant; widespread |
| Mammillaria dioica | California fish-hook cactus | 43 | 105 | 1325 | Abundant; widespread |
| Mammillaria tetrancistra | desert fish-hook cactus | 19 | 24 | 205* | Uncommon in our area; widespread elsewhere |
| Opuntia basilaris var. basilaris | beavertail cactus | 63 | 93 | 1518 | Abundant; widespread |
| Opuntia chlorotica | pancake prickly-pear | 1 | 20 | 115 | Uncommon in our area, mostly in Pinyon Mountain / Whale Peak area. Widespread elsewhere. |
| Opuntia engelmannii var. engelmannii | Engelmann prickly-pear | 2 | 26 | 45 | Infrequent; mostly on se side of Granite Mountain and areas near Scissors Crossing. Difficult to distinguish from O. phaeacantha in our area, perhaps due to extensive hybridization with it. |
| Opuntia phaeacantha | desert prickly-pear | 8 | 92 | 146 | Infrequent, mostly at higher elevations on the west side of the Park. Widespread elsewhere. Distinguishing this species from O. engelmannii and O. vaseyi is problematic. |
| Opuntia polyacantha var. erinacea =Opuntia erinacea var. erinacea | Mojave prickly-pear | 0 | 1 | 0 | Rare in our area, only near Rabbit Peak. Widespread elsewhere. Fairly common on north side of the Santa Rosa Mountains. |
^ The #Lists give the number of areas with each species in my database. My database is biased to the north part of the Park, since that is where most of my botanizing occurs.
* iNat positions are obscured, so coordinates are nearly worthless, making maps from iNat largely useless.
+ Birgit Knorr is mapping the entire range of C. fosbergii, so the iNat observation numbers for this species are a much larger fraction of its population than for other species.
I thank Keir Morse for noticing that Benson had an error in the maximum size of C. ramosissima flowers.