Cholla City
Cylindropuntia whipplei – The crew have taken to calling this one “Cowboy Cactus” because it looks like it belongs in a classic Western. However, these are going to get only 2 to 3 ft. tall. And yes, for the first time, I am using a Cylindropuntia designation, instead of Opuntia. I’ve fallen into the trap of renaming all the chollas, although I’m feeling wary of the Austrocylindropuntia name. I don’t like this idea of dividing the genus based on North vs. South America.
I should also say we’re not really sure that this is C. whipplei – it’s out best guess. I actually thought it was A. shaferi, but we have some other chollas that are definitely A. shaferi, and they don’t look like this. So I got voted down. This is our best guess at this point. We’ll know better when they bloom.
