HomeThe Cholla Cactus
| Cholla
pronounced cho-ya is a Spanish
word that means joints or jointed. There are nine
different species of Cholla in the Tucson Basin. Another
name for Cholla is Jumping Cactus, because of the
disconcerting habit of coming unjointed easily. If you
touch even one spine it is enough to detach a joint, then
when you move more joints become lodged in your skin. To
make matters worse, the spines are barbed and therefore
difficult to remove. We desert rats carry a comb with us.
Remove the spines by sticking the comb under the cactus
and flipping it away. The trick is to not flip it back
into your skin. The next step is to take a pair of pliers
and remove the remaining barbs. Sounds like fun, doesn't
it? If you would like to learn more about the cactus of Arizona contact the Arizona Cactus and Succulent Research Inc. at http://www.amdest.com/az/Bisbee/azc/azc.html |