Opuntia Cholla (Noun)
Meaning
Arborescent cacti having very spiny cylindrical stem segments; southwestern United States and Mexico.
Classification
Nouns denoting plants.
Examples
- Opuntia cholla grows in dense clusters of branches and segments, covering a large area of land in the desert.
- Arborescent opuntia cholla have distinctive flowers on the terminal joints, in shades of red or purple, sometimes even white.
- Desert residents consider the spines of the opuntia cholla highly painful if accidentally stuck to human skin.
- Arborescent cholla and especially the Opuntia species were named "chain-fruit" cacti for its odd arrangement of red seed-bearing joints hanging down in bunches resembling clusters of pendant flowers or berries on shrubs or little trees.
- Several native groups relied heavily on fruits and young stem segments from arborescent cholla species of opuntia to meet a major part of their nutrient intake requirements in that extremely nutrient-depleted ecosystem of Southwestern U.S and Mexican lands.