Opuntia fulgida Engelm., Cactaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  no

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Risk assessment results:  High risk, score: 16 (Go to the risk assessment)

Other Latin names:  Cylindropuntia fulgida (Engelm.) F. M. Knuth

Common name(s): [more details]

English: boxing-glove cactus, boxing-glove cholla, brinkadora, chain-fruit cholla, club cactus, jumping cholla, smooth chain-fruit cholla, Sonoran jumping cholla

Spanish: cholla brillante

Habit:  cactus

Description:  "Trees 1-3 m; trunk divaricately branching; crown many branch-ed, spreading. Stem segments whorled or subwhorled, gray-green, often drying blackish, ± spiny throughout, terminal ones easily dislodged, 6-16 (-23) x 2-3.5 cm; tubercles salient, broadly oval, 0.8-1.3(-1.9) cm; areoles obdeltate, 5-7 (-10) x 2.5-4 mm; wool gold to tan, aging gray to black. Spines 0-12 (-18) per areole, at most areoles to nearly absent, yellowish, sometimes also pale pinkish, aging brown, interlaced or not with spines of adjacent areoles; abaxial spines erect to deflexed, spreading, flattened basally, the longest to 3.5 cm; adaxial spines erect or spreading, terete to subterete, longest to 2.5 cm; sheaths uniformly whitish, yellowish to golden, baggy. Glochids in adaxial tuft, sometimes also scattered along areole margins, yellow, 1-3 mm. Flowers: inner tepals usually reflexed, pink to magenta, obovate to ligulate, 12-16 mm, apiculate emarginate; filaments pale pink to magenta; anthers white to cream; style pinkish; stigma lobes whitish to pale yellow. Fruits proliferating, forming long, branching, pendent chains, at maturity gray-green, often stipitate, obconic, fleshy, shallowly tuberculate, usually spineless; basal fruits 32-55 x 23-45 mm; terminal fruits 2-3.3 x 1.3-2.3 cm; tubercles becoming obscure; umbilicus to 8 mm deep; areoles 18-35. Seeds pale yellow to brownish, angular to very irregular in outline, warped, 1.9 x 1.5-3.5 mm, sides with 1-2 large depressions, hilum pointed; girdle smooth"  (Flora of North America online).

Habitat/ecology:  "Sonoran desert scrub, sandy flats, rocky slopes, rolling hillsides; 300-1100 m"  (Flora of North America online).

Propagation:  Seed and stem segments. Fruit and viable stem segments are spread by becoming attached to animals, clothing, etc.

Native range:  Arizona (U.S.) and Baja California, Sinaloa and Sonora in Mexico (GRIN).

Presence:

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Mexico Mexico	Mexico (United Mexican States)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011) Baja California, Sinaloa, Sonora
United States (west coast) United States (west coast states)	USA (California)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. (2011)

Also reported from
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
United States (continental except west coast) United States (other states)	United States (other states)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. (2011) Arizona, New Mexico

Additional information:
Fact sheet from Weeds Australia (PDF format).

Additional online information about Opuntia fulgida is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Information about Opuntia fulgida as a weed (worldwide references) may be available from the Global Compendium of Weeds (GCW).

Taxonomic information about Opuntia fulgida may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

References:

Flora of North America Editorial Committee, eds. 2011. Flora of North America North of Mexico (online edition).

U. S. Government. 2011. Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) (on-line resource).

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2011. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. 2011. The PLANTS Database. National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.