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The Jumping Cholla (Opuntia fulgida), also known as the Hanging Chain Cholla, is a cactus that is native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. They grow at elevations ranging from 300 to 1000 m (1000 to 3000 ft). While the name "Jumping Cholla" is applied especially to this species, it is also used as a general term for all chollas.
The Jumping Cholla is an arborscent (tree-like) plant with one low-branching trunk. They often grow to heights of 12 feet, with drooping branches of chained fruit. The stems are light green and are strongly tuberculate, with tubercles (small, wart-like projections on the stems) measuring 6 to 9 mm. Together, the plants form fantastic looking forests that may range over many hectares.
Leaves have been reduced to spines, 6-12 of which grow from each areole. Young branches are covered with 1/2 to 1 inch silvery-yellow spines, which darken to a gray color with age. These spines form a dense layer that obscures the stems. Slower growing or older branches have sparse and/or shorter spines. As the spines fall off of older parts, the brown-black bark is revealed. It becomes rough and scaly with age.
Flowers are white and pink, streaked with lavender. They are about one inch wide, and are displayed at the joint tips (or old fruit tips), blooming in mid-summer.
Most of the fleshy, green fruits are sterile, pear-shaped to nearly round, wrinkled with a few spines. They are typically 1 1/2" long, often producing flowers the following year which add new fruits to those of previous seasons. It is these hanging chains of fruit give it the name "Hanging Chain Cholla" whereas the "Jumping Cholla" name comes from the ease with which the stems detach when brushed, giving the impression that the stem jumped onto you. Often the merest touch will leave a person with bits of cactus hanging on their clothes to be discovered later, when either sitting or leaning on them. The ground around a mature plant will often be covered with dead stems and young plants started from stems that have fallen from the adult. They attach themselves to desert animals and are dispersed for short distances.
When a piece of this cholla sticks to an unsuspecting human, a good method to remove the cactus is with a hair comb.
Other names for this cactus include Chain Fruit Cholla, Cholla Brincadora, and Velas de Coyote.
During droughts animals like the Bighorn Sheep rely on the juicy fruit for food and water. Because they grow in inaccessible and hostile places of the desert, populations of this cactus are stable, and it is not considered to be vulnerable or endangered.
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