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Teddy-bear Cholla
 
 
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The teddy-bear cholla (Cylindropuntia bigelovii) is a cactus
Cactus

A cactus is any member of the spine plant family Cactaceae, native to the Americas. They are often used as ornamental plants, but some are also Crop plants....
 native to California
California

California is a U.S. state on the West Coast of the United States of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and to the south the Mexico state of Baja California....
 and Arizona
Arizona

The State of Arizona is a U.S. state located in the Southwestern United States of the United States. The capital and largest city is Phoenix, Arizona....
 (USA) and northwestern Mexico
Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federalism constitutionalism republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico....
. They grow in desert
Désert

?D?sert? is ?milie Simon's debut single, released in October 2002. The song was a huge success both critically and commercially in her homeland....
 regions at elevations from 30 to 1100 m (100 to 3600 ft). It is an attractive plant, having a soft appearance due to its solid mass of very formidable spines
Spine (biology)

In biology, spine or spiny may refer to:*Spine , needle-like structures in plants*Spine , needle-like structures in animalsSpine may also refer to:...
 that completely cover the stems
Plant stem

A stem is one of two main structural axes of a vascular plant. The stem is normally divided into nodes and internodes, the nodes hold buds which grow into one or more leaf, inflorescence , conifer cones or other stems etc....
. From a distance, the stems appear soft and fuzzy, giving it the name "teddy bear
Teddy bear

The teddy bear is a stuffed toy bear. It is an enduring, traditional form of a stuffed animal, often serving the purpose of comforting children....
".

The teddy-bear cholla is an erect plant, standing 0.3-2 m (1-5 ft) tall with a distinct trunk
Trunk (botany)

In botany, trunk refers to the main structural member of a tree that supports the branches and is supported by and directly attached to the roots....
.






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Encyclopedia


The teddy-bear cholla (Cylindropuntia bigelovii) is a cactus
Cactus

A cactus is any member of the spine plant family Cactaceae, native to the Americas. They are often used as ornamental plants, but some are also Crop plants....
 native to California
California

California is a U.S. state on the West Coast of the United States of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and to the south the Mexico state of Baja California....
 and Arizona
Arizona

The State of Arizona is a U.S. state located in the Southwestern United States of the United States. The capital and largest city is Phoenix, Arizona....
 (USA) and northwestern Mexico
Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federalism constitutionalism republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico....
. They grow in desert
Désert

?D?sert? is ?milie Simon's debut single, released in October 2002. The song was a huge success both critically and commercially in her homeland....
 regions at elevations from 30 to 1100 m (100 to 3600 ft). It is an attractive plant, having a soft appearance due to its solid mass of very formidable spines
Spine (biology)

In biology, spine or spiny may refer to:*Spine , needle-like structures in plants*Spine , needle-like structures in animalsSpine may also refer to:...
 that completely cover the stems
Plant stem

A stem is one of two main structural axes of a vascular plant. The stem is normally divided into nodes and internodes, the nodes hold buds which grow into one or more leaf, inflorescence , conifer cones or other stems etc....
. From a distance, the stems appear soft and fuzzy, giving it the name "teddy bear
Teddy bear

The teddy bear is a stuffed toy bear. It is an enduring, traditional form of a stuffed animal, often serving the purpose of comforting children....
".

The teddy-bear cholla is an erect plant, standing 0.3-2 m (1-5 ft) tall with a distinct trunk
Trunk (botany)

In botany, trunk refers to the main structural member of a tree that supports the branches and is supported by and directly attached to the roots....
. The branch
Branch

A branch or tree branch is a woody structural Limb connected to but not part of the central trunk of a tree . Large branches are known as boughs and small branches are known as twigs.....
es are at the top of the trunk and are nearly horizontal. Lower branches typically fall off, and the trunk darkens with age. The silvery-white spines, which are actually a form of leaf
Leaf

In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant Organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin, to expose the cells containing chloroplast to light over a broad area, and to allow light to penetrate fully into the tissues....
, almost completely obscure the stem with a fuzzy-looking, but impenetrable, defense. The spines are 2.5 cm (1") long and are covered with a detachable, paper-like sheath.
Teddy Bear Cholla 2
The yellow-green flower
Flower

A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproduction structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to mediate the union of male sperm with female ovum in order to produce seeds....
s of this cactus emerge at the tips of the stems in May and June, and the fruit
Fruit

The term fruit has different meanings dependent on context, and the term is not synonymous in food preparation and biology. In botany, which is the scientific study of plants, fruits are the ripened Ovary of flowering plants....
s that follow usually have no viable seed
Seed

A seed is a small Plant embryogenesis plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some Food storage. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant....
. Flowers are usually 3 cm (1-3/8") in length. The fruit is 2 cm (3/4") in diameter, tuberculate, and may or may not have spines. These cacti produce few seeds, as the plant usually reproduces from dropped stems. These stems are often carried for some distance by sticking to the hair of animals. Often small "forests" of these chollas form that are largely clones of one individual.

In the lower Colorado River
Colorado River

The Colorado River is a river in the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, approximately 1,450 mi long, draining a part of the arid regions on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains....
 valley, the most dense cholla forests are at higher elevations, in the rockiest sites. There are fewer Sonoran Desert
Sonoran Desert

The Sonoran Desert is a North American desert which straddles part of the United States-Mexico border and covers large parts of the U.S. states of Arizona and California and the Mexican states of Sonora and Baja California....
, or Colorado Desert
Colorado Desert

The Colorado Desert is a part of the larger Sonoran Desert in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of California and the northeastern portion of the Mexican state of Baja California....
 plants in association, but three are common, though in reduced size: the Ocotillo
Ocotillo

The ocotillo is a curious and unique desert plant of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. For much of the year, the plant appears to be an arrangement of large spiny dead sticks, although closer examination reveals that the Plant stem are partly green....
, the Saguaro
Saguaro

The Saguaro, pronounced "sah-wah-roh", is a large, tree-sized cactus species in the monotypic genus Carnegiea. It is native to the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, the Mexico political divisions of Mexico of Sonora and Baja California, and an extremely small area of California....
, and a relative cholla, a finger-leaf cholla, with 7-10 in fingers, and of similar height, and similar to the teddy-bear in appearance, but a more open plant.

Like its cousin the jumping cholla
Jumping Cholla

The jumping cholla , also known as the hanging chain cholla, is a cactus that is native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico....
, the stems of this cactus detach easily and the ground around a mature plant is often littered with scattered cholla balls and small plants starting where these balls have rooted. When a piece of this cholla sticks to an unsuspecting person, a good method to remove the cactus is with a hair comb. The spines are barbed, and hold on tightly. Desert pack rat
Pack rat

A pack rat, also called a trade rat or wood rat, can be any of several species in the genus Neotoma, but most commonly the Bushy-tailed Woodrat ....
s such as the Desert Woodrat
Desert Woodrat

The Desert Woodrat is a small species of pack rat native to desert regions of western North America, ranging from southeastern Oregon and southwestern Idaho , south to Baja California and extreme northwestern Sonora, Mexico....
 gather these balls around their burrows, creating a defense against predators.