Data provided by the participants of the Consortium of California Herbaria

View additional distribution information on the Jepson eflora

Cylindropuntia ramosissima is a species of cactus known by the common names diamond cholla and branched pencil cholla. Cylindropuntia ramosissima is native to the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts of the Southwestern United States, California, and Northwestern Mexico, and to Baja California and its Islas San Benito. Cylindropuntia ramosissima is native to the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts of the Southwestern United States, California, and Northwestern Mexico, and to Baja California and its Islas San Benito. Cylindropuntia ramosissima is a decumbent or erect and treelike cactus which can approach 2 meters-6 feet in maximum height. It has many narrow branches made up of cylindrical segments, green in color drying gray, the surface divided into squarish, flat tubercles with few or no spines, or often with a single long, straight spine. The flower is small and orange, pink or brownish in color. The fruit is a small, dry, spiny body up to 2 centimeters long.

Plant type

Shrub, Succulent

Size

5 - 7 ft Tall

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Color

Orange, Pink, Brown

Flowering season

Spring, Summer

Special uses

Containers, Hedge

Sun

Full Sun

Water

Extremely Low, Very Low

Soil drainage

Fast

Sunset Zones

8, 9, 10, 11, 12*, 13*, 14, 19, 20, 21

Site type

Desert flats

Plant communities

Creosote Bush Scrub, Joshua Tree Woodland

Caterpillars
Butterflies

Butterflies and moths supported

0 confirmed and 4 likely

Confirmed Likely

Cahela Moth

Cahela ponderosella

Dicymolomia opuntialis

Laetilia dilatifasciella

Pseudoschinia elautalis