Grusonia parishii

Parish's club-cholla, Parish's Club-Cholla

Family: Cactaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 2B.2

Parish's club-cholla is a rare (CNPS 2B.2) California native perennial found in the Mojave Desert and southeastern California in sandy, gravelly flats within creosote-bush and bur-sage scrub at elevations of 300 to 1,200 meters. Flowering from May to June, this cactus produces yellow-green flowers with green filaments approximately 1.5 to 2.5 centimeters long. Growing in mats or clumps up to 2 meters in diameter, it has distinctive segments 2 to 3 centimeters in diameter with prominent tubercles 12 to 25 millimeters long. Its stem segments are characterized by up to 21 spines less than 5 centimeters long, with flat gray to brown spines that have white margins and separate only at the tip. The fruit is fleshy and yellow, measuring 4.5 to 8 centimeters long, often with easily detached or absent spines.

Habitat: Sandy, gravelly flats generally in creosote-bush/bur-sage scrub

Bloom period: May-Jun

Elevation: 300-1200 m

Bioregions: SNE, DMoj

California counties: San Bernardino, Riverside

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