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buckhorn cholla Cactaceae Cylindropuntia acanthocarpa (Engelm. & J.M. Bigelow) F.M. Knuth Listen to the Latin Print a QR link to this factsheet symbol: CYAC8
Leaf: Reduced to a spine, to 1 inch silvery-yellow spines covered with papery sheathes, arranged in obvious areoles with up to 25 (commonly 10-15) stiff spines per areole.
Flower: Red or yellow, 2 inches, displayed at the joint tips, mid-summer.
Fruit: Barrel-shaped or pear-shaped, fleshy and turning dry when ripe, reddish and turning yellow-brown, 1 inch, with spines.
Twig: Segmented, each segment gray-green to purplish, to 12 inches long and 3/4 inch in diameter.
Bark: Brown-black, becoming rough and scaly.
Form: Shrubby segmented cactus branching very low to the ground, to 12 feet.
Looks like: pencil cholla - Teddy bear cholla - tree cholla - cane cholla

buckhorn cholla leaf image
buckhorn cholla flower image
buckhorn cholla fruit image
buckhorn cholla twig image
buckhorn cholla bark image
buckhorn cholla form image
buckhorn cholla map image

Additional Range Information: Cylindropuntia acanthocarpa is native to North America. Range may be expanded by planting. Download the full-size PDF map.
External Links: USDA Plants Database - Horticulture Information
All material 2025 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