Scientific Name
Cylindropuntia fulgida (Engelm.) F.M.Knuth
Common Name(s)
Boxing Glove Cactus, Boxing Glove Cholla, Club Cactus, Chain Fruit Cholla, Hanging Chain Cholla, Jumping Cholla, Sonoran Jumping Cholla
Synonym(s)
Cylindropuntia fulgida var. fulgida, Grusonia fulgida, Opuntia fulgida
Scientific Classification
Family: Cactaceae
Subfamily: Opuntioideae
Tribe: Cylindropuntieae
Genus: Cylindropuntia
Description
Cylindropuntia fulgida is a shrubby or tree-like cactus with a trunk and a crown of spreading, many-branched segmented stems with knotty ridges. It grows up to 10 feet (3 m) tall. The stem segments are gray-green, often drying blackish, and covered with yellowish or sometimes pale pinkish spines that darken to brown with age and form a dense layer that obscures the stem. They are cylindrical, up to 9.2 inches (23 cm) long and 1.4 inches (3.5 cm) wide. The terminal ones easily dislodged. The spines are up to 1.2 inches (3 cm) long, up to 18 per at most areole, to nearly absent.
The flowers are pink to magenta, up to 0.6 inches (1.5 cm) in diameter, and appear in summer at the tips of the terminal stem segments or old fruits. The proliferating fruits form long, branching, pendent chains. They are fleshy, inverted cone shape, shallowly tuberculate, up to 2.2 inches (5.5 cm) long and 0.9 inches (2.3 cm) in diameter, usually spineless, and gray-green at maturity. The seeds are pale yellow to brownish.
Origin
Cylindropuntia fulgida is native to Sonora and the southwestern United States.
Hardiness
USDA hardiness zones 8b to 11b: from 15 °F (−9.4 °C) to 50 °F (+10 °C).
How to Grow and Care
Though the large variety of species within the Opuntia genus means different Prickly Pears may need slightly different care. All are desert cacti that need lots of sun, lots of light, and very little water. If you live in a hot, arid area, these plants can generally be planted outside, left alone, and enjoyed.
These cacti will grow just fine in a garden but can also be grown in pots. To repot, ensure the soil is dry, remove the pot, and remove the old soil. After treating any cuts with fungicide, place the cactus in a new pot and backfill it with potting soil. As with a new cutting, ensure not to water a newly repotting Prickly Pear briefly to avoid rotting its roots.
Opuntia can propagate either by cuttings or by seed. To propagate by cuttings, sever pads from a plant and let them dry to heal the wounds. Then place the plants in dry soil and refrain from watering them until they begin to grow to avoid rotting them.
See more at How to Grow and Care for Opuntia.
Links
- Back to genus Cylindropuntia
- Succupedia: Browse succulents by Scientific Name, Common Name, Genus, Family, USDA Hardiness Zone, Origin, or cacti by Genus
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