Cylindropuntia whipplei

Cylindropuntia whipplei (Whipple cholla) is a series of Cylindropuntia.

Background
Consisting of low, much branched, with long, fibrous roots; areoles prominent, flattened laterally, 10 to 15 cm. long, circular, filled with light-brown wool; glochids pale yellow, short; spines about 12, the longest about 2 cm. long, dark brown, covered with lighter colored papery sheaths; flowers yellow, small (2 cm. broad); young ovary bearing brown spines in the axils of the leaves; fruit strongly tuberculate, spineless, 2.5 to 4 cm. long, with a deeply depressed umbilicus, sometimes with only one seed but usually many; seeds small, 4 mm. broad, smooth. Type locality is about Zuni, New Mexico.

It is distributed in Northern New Mexico and Arizona to southwestern Colorado and probably southern Utah. Also reported by Coulter in southern California, Lower California, and Sonora, but not to be expected there.