Cylindropuntia chuckwallensis

Chuckwalla cholla, Chuckwalla Cholla

Family: Cactaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Chuckwalla cholla is a native shrub found in the Joshua Tree National Park and central Colorado Desert regions, inhabiting gravelly and rocky hillsides, washes, and canyon walls at elevations of 400 to 1,600 meters. Flowering in April, this plant produces pale to dark pink-purple flowers with occasionally pale yellow-green tones, occasionally highlighted by pink-purple-tinged filaments. Growing as a multi-trunked shrub less than 1.2 meters tall, it features distinctive terminal segments 3.3 to 9.7 centimeters long with prominent tubercles. Its stems are armed with 6 to 21 generally translucent white spines, creating a striking silvery-white defensive network across the plant's surface. The chuckwalla cholla produces dry, spiny fruits with tubercles that mirror those found on its stems, adapted to the harsh desert environments of southeastern California.

Habitat: Gravelly or rocky soils of hillsides, washes, canyon walls

Bloom period: Apr

Elevation: 400-1600 m

Bioregions: DMoj (Joshua Tree National Park and nearby), c DSon.

California counties: Riverside, Imperial

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.