Both photos are pictures of Cholla (pronounced Choy – ah) – two different varieties — one of the most common cacti in the desert. The Cholla is a relative of the Prickly Pear, last month’s featured plant. Both belong to the genus Opuntia because they have segmented limbs, but the Cholla also belongs to the Cylindropuntia subgenus, because its limbs are cylindrical. Both plants can produce hybrid varieties, and there are many such permutations of cholla in the Tucson area that have yet to be identified and named. You may also remember that Opuntia have 4 distinct characteristics, one of which is that they have glochids, small barbed spines which are sharp, brittle and easily detached. The Cholla have developed that characteristic into a “super power.”
One of the first rules you learn when you move to the desert is never, ever pet a cholla … not even a Teddy Bear Cholla which can look somewhat soft and fluffy in the right light. In fact, it’s a good idea to keep at least a foot away from these cacti because the nickname of the cholla is “Jumping Cholla.” It has a nasty habit of attaching to anything that gets close to it – shoes, backpacks, bare skin – with little barbs at the end of hollow spines. If what it touches has any moisture, the spines will bend, locking on to its “new best friend” and that section will break off from the plant. It holds on until the victim manages to detach it, and then will try to grow roots wherever it lands. There are some great U-tube videos recording “people versus cholla.”
However, we really shouldn’t get too upset with the plant. Chollas have blossoms and fruit like other cacti, but the seeds they produce are generally sterile. That means chollas would have been extinct by now if it hadn’t been for their “hitch-hiking habits.” The main way chollas reproduce is by breaking off parts of themselves and then sending down roots to start a new plant. Some pieces land near the original plant, so you will often see “baby cholla” close by the “mother” plant. But others latch on to anything that can carry them – animals, people, the wind – for a ride to a new and better place to grow.
Many chollas like sandy flats and gravelly to rocky washes. They usually stay below 4000 feet. They can range in size from 3 feet to 5 feet, although the Hanging Chain Cholla is more tree-like and grows 8 feet or more.
In February or March, the Chollas put out small flowers which are sometimes light green and hard to see but can also appear in a variety of colors all on the same plant. Before they bloom, the Cholla buds are edible. Honest-food.net claims that the buds, “properly prepared, taste like a fantastic combination of green beans, artichoke hearts and asparagus.” There are also some U-Tube videos on how to harvest and prepare Cholla buds. The fruits are eaten by jackrabbits, deer, squirrels, birds, iguanas, tortoises and beetles.
Native peoples used the spines of the Cholla (and other cactus) for sewing needles. Supposedly the dried stem pith can be used to soothe earaches while the thorn coverings can be pounded into a paste to treat boils.
Despite their detachable sharp spines, the Cholla is the preferred nesting site of Arizona’s state bird, the Cactus Wren. Somehow Mother Wren manages to build a secure nest among the branches of the Cholla and can get in and out without damage to herself or her offspring. Another clever creature, the Desert Woodrat, chews off the dead thorny branches from a cholla, drags them to the area surrounding its burrow, and arranges them to discourage predators. As Robert Frost once said, “Good fences make good neighbors!”
Click this link to view a video to hear the call of the Cactus Wren and watch one daintily perched on a Cholla.