Cylindropuntia leptocaulis
| Cylindropuntia leptocaulis | ||||||||||||
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Cylindropuntia leptocaulis |
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| Cylindropuntia leptocaulis | ||||||||||||
| ( DC. ) FMKnuth |
Cylindropuntia leptocaulis is a species of the genus Cylindropuntia in the cactus family(Cactaceae). The specific epithet leptocaulis comes from Latin and means 'with slender stems'. Foreign language trivial names are "Alfilerillo", "Catalinaria", "Desert Christmas cactus", "Desert Christmas cholla", "Tasajillo" and "Tasajo".
description
Cylindropuntia leptocaulis grows shrubby or tree-shaped with differently branched shoots and reaches heights of 50 to 180 centimeters. The main branches usually have short, thornless shoots. The very slender, gray-green to slightly purple-colored shoot segments are 20 to 80 centimeters long and 3 to 5 millimeters in diameter. The broadly elliptical areoles are covered with white to yellow wool. They turn gray with age. The yellow to reddish brown glochids are 1 to 5 millimeters long. The mostly single, upright, bendable thorn , it can also be missing or sometimes up to three thorns are developed, is reddish brown and has a whitish to gray surface. The spines are circular in cross-section, flattened at their base, straight or curved and have lengths between 1.4 and 4.5 centimeters. They are either concentrated on the uppermost areoles or evenly distributed along the shoot segments. Their thorn sheaths are gray, purple-gray or yellow.
The flowers are bright yellow to greenish yellow and on the tips of the bloom occasionally reddish. The obovate, fleshy fruits are smooth and have no thorns. They are initially green and mostly tinged with purple. When ripe they turn yellow to red. The fruits are 9 to 15 millimeters long (or even longer) and reach a diameter of 6 to 7 millimeters.
Distribution, systematics and endangerment
Cylindropuntia leptocaulis is widespread in the United States in the states of Arizona , New Mexico , Oklahoma , and Texas, and in Mexico in the states of Chihuahua , Coahuila , Sonora , Durango , Nuevo León , San Luis Potosí , Tamaulipas, and Zacatecas . It grows in semi-deserts, grasslands, chaparral and woodlands.
The first description as Opuntia leptocaulis was published in 1828 by Augustin-Pyrame de Candolle . Frederik Marcus Knuth placed them in the genus Cylindropuntia in 1930 .
In the Red List of Threatened Species of the IUCN , the species is listed as " Least Concern (LC) ". H. listed as not endangered. Individual parts of the plant are spread by cattle, so that the populations will increase.
proof
literature
- Edward F. Anderson : The Great Cactus Lexicon . Eugen Ulmer KG, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-8001-4573-1 , p. 172-173 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Revue de la Famille des Cactées . In: Memoires du Museum d'Histoire Naturelle . Volume 17, 1828, p. 118, (online) .
- ↑ Den Nye cactus arch . 1930, p. 106.
- ↑ Cylindropuntia leptocaulis in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2014.1. Posted by: Hernández, HM, Cházaro, M. & Gómez-Hinostrosa, C., 2013. Retrieved June 16, 2014.
