Diamond Cholla Cactus. Cylindropuntia ramosissima, Cactus Family ( Cactaceae ), Diamond Cholla Cactus. Also Called: Branched Pencil, Pencil Cactus, Pencil Cholla, & Opuntia ramosissima. We wish to thank Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia for some of the information on this page. We share images and information with Wikipedia. Diamond cholla Cactus are native Arizona plants, that are also used as xeriscape landscaping plants in Arizona. Cylindropuntia ramosissima can be found growing as a decumbent or erect and treelike cactus which can approach 6 feet in maximum height. It has many narrow branches made up of cylindrical segments, green in color which turn gray as they dry out. The branches surface is divided into diamond-shaped flat tubercles, with few or no spines. Sometimes with a single long, straight spine. Diamond cholla Cactus is native to the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts of the Southwestern United States, California, and Northwestern Mexico, into Baja California and it's Islas San Benito. In arizona we have seen several in the Joshua Tree Forest. It's flower is small, and Yellow, orange, pink, or brownish in color. It's fruit is a small, dry, with a spiny body up to about 3/4 inch long. Flowers are hard to find. It's pattern of diamond-shaped tubercles on it's stems distinguish it from other Cholla. Quick Notes: Height: From 1 1/2 feet to about p To About 6 1/2 feet. Spreading to about 6 to 8 feet. Flowers: Inner tepals bronze-red � suffused rose, with mid stripes darker, ovate, 6-13 mm, acute-apiculate to attenuate; filaments greenish; anthers yellow; style whitish or blushed with rose-pink or light green; stigma lobes whitish. Flowers are hard to find. Blooming Time: Spring through Summer (Apr-Aug). Fruit: Fruits maturing tan, ellipsoid to stipitate-ellipsoid, 15-30 � 10-15 mm, dry at maturity, tuberculate, developing increasingly burlike, with many bristlelike spines; areoles (32-)40-66, evenly spaced, woolly. Stems: Stem segments firmly attached, green drying gray and ropelike, cylindric, 2-8(-10) � 0.4-1 cm; tubercles rhombic, convex (flattened upon drying), 0.4-0.8 cm; areoles subcircular abaxially, adaxially becoming usually deltate-linear; glochid-bearing portion protruding distally, wedged between bases of 2 adjacent tubercles, (3-)4-7 � 1-1.5(-2) mm; wool tan to white. Spines: Spines 0-5 per areole, usually in distal areoles or sometimes absent or nearly so, tan to red-brown to deep purple, aging gray; major abaxial spines 0-1(-2), the longest spine spreading, (1.5-)2.5-6 cm; adaxial spines usually reflexed, short to � 1 cm; sheaths baggy. Glochids in subcircular to linear adaxial tuft, yellow to tan to brown, to 2 mm. Jointed Stalks: The joints are narrow (4 - 12 inches long and about 3/4 inch thick). The spines are relatively sparse. Seeds: Pale yellow to tan-gray, angular to squarish in outline, warped, 4-4.5 � 3.5-4 mm, sides irregularly concave-convex; girdle smooth. 2n = 22, 44. Found: Mojave and Sonoran deserts, washes, flats, and bajadas, sandy loam, desert pavement, stony volcanic substrates; 50-1100 m; Ariz., Calif., Nev.; Mexico (Baja California, Sonora). Elevation: Naturally found from about 100 to 3,000 feet. Hardiness: USDA Zone 9a: to -6.6 �C (20 �F) USDA Zone 9b: to -3.8 �C (25 �F) USDA Zone 10a: to -1.1 �C (30 �F) USDA Zone 10b: to 1.7 �C (35 �F) USDA Zone 11: above 4.5 �C (40 �F) Soil pH requirements: 6.1 to 6.5 (mildly acidic) 6.6 to 7.5 (neutral) 7.6 to 7.8 (mildly alkaline) Sun Exposure: Full Sun Habitat: The lower elevations of the Sonoran Desert of southern Arizona, & southwestern New Mexico. Also in Sonora, Mexico. On the sandy desert, gravel slopes, and flat lands. Miscellaneous: We noticed that when in California, the flowers are usually pink. Anywhere you will look, the flowers are hard to find.

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