Corynopuntia schottii

Engelmann. 1856. Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 3: 304.

What is Corynopuntia schottii?

Corynopuntia schottii is a dog cholla that forms small plants 15 cm across to very large plants (300 cm). However, at 5-12 cm tall, the plants are relatively short.

Details

C. schottii stem segments are clavate, (2-)3.5-6.5 × (1.5-)2-3 cm with tubercles that are 8-20 mm. The tubercles are not or are little obscured by spines. Areoles 2.5-4 mm in diam with white to yellowish wood. There are 11-17 spines per areole, mostly in distal areoles, spreading to deflexed, white, tan, or red-brown. The longest spine is 3-7 cm. The major 3 abaxial spines are divergent or deflexed, tan to brown, flattened to angular-flattened, and sharp-edged. The major 2-3 adaxial spines are ascending-divergent, red-brown, and subterete to angular-flattened. Glochids are up to 7 mm long and yellowish-white to yellow. The most recent treatment is in Club Chollas of the Big Bend 3.0 (see Appendix E). C. schottii roots are diffuse and it is hexaploid.

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