Virginia Tech Dendrology

Christmas cactus Cactaceae Cylindropuntia leptocaulis (DC.) F.M. Knuth symbol: CYLE8
Leaf: Reduced to a spine covered in a tan sheath, arranged in obvious areoles with 0-3 stiff spines per areole, usually with one long spine to 2 inches.
Flower: Yellow-green to reddish, 1 inch, displayed at the joint tips, mostly in late spring but can appear throughout the summer.
Fruit: Barrel-shaped or pear-shaped, initially fleshy, bright red, 1/2 inch, lacking spines, ripening in December.
Twig: Segmented, each segment gray-green to purplish, to 6 inches long (often 3-4 inches) and 1/2 inch in diameter.
Bark: Brown-black, becoming rough and scaly.
Form: Shrubby segmented cactus branching very low to the ground, to 6 feet, heavily branched.
Looks like: pencil cholla - pencil cholla

Additional Range Information: Cylindropuntia leptocaulis is native to North America. Range may be expanded by planting. Download the full-size PDF map.
External Links: USDA Plants Database
All material 2021 Virginia Tech Dept. of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation; Photos and text by: John Seiler, Edward Jensen, Alex Niemiera, and John Peterson; Silvics reprinted from Ag Handbook 654; range map source information