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Cylindropuntia whipplei; photograph (c) Andrew Dudley, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Andrew Dudley, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-08-03

Cylindropuntia whipplei (Engelm. & J.M.Bigelow) F.M.Knuth

Whipple cholla; Clokey Cholla; Plateau Cholla; Rattail Cholla

Cactaceae · Colorado, Arizona +4 · listed by its family as a cactus or succulent

Cited as Kew's World Checklist cites it, Cylindropuntia whipplei (Engelm. & J.M.Bigelow) F.M.Knuth: GBIF's backbone key for this page carries the name with another author, (Peebles) M.A.Baker.

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Cylindropuntia whipplei, photograph (c) Jo Roberts, some rights reserved (CC BY)Cylindropuntia whipplei, photograph (c) Jo Roberts, some rights reserved (CC BY)Cylindropuntia whipplei, photograph (c) Andrew Dudley, some rights reserved (CC BY)Cylindropuntia whipplei, photograph (c) Andrew Dudley, some rights reserved (CC BY)Cylindropuntia whipplei, photograph (c) Andrew Dudley, some rights reserved (CC BY)Cylindropuntia whipplei, photograph (c) Andrew Dudley, some rights reserved (CC BY) 60 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-11.1°C
Record low -22.9 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
32°C
Jul at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
340mm
8 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
19–54DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet summers: the rain comes January to March and July to October, read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Cylindropuntia whipplei (formerly known as Opuntia whipplei, common name Whipple cholla) is a member of the cactus family, Cactaceae.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Cylindropuntia whipplei", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Cylindropuntia

Cylindropuntia is a genus of cacti, containing species commonly known as chollas, native to northern Mexico and the Southwestern United States. They are known for their barbed spines that tenaciously attach to skin, fur, and clothing. Stands of cholla are called cholla gardens. More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Cylindropuntia", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Grouped as a cactus or succulent, listed under the family Cactaceae in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “succulent subshrub or shrub”.

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (240 mm of 335 mm) falls in January to March and July to October, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 13.0 °C against a yearly mean of 12.3 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: January to April and July to September.

Rain

335 mm in the median year at the habitat, 240 mm of it January to March and July to October. Wettest month August at 46 mm, driest month June at 9 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 251 mm to 484 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 340 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 335 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 19 to 54 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 17, the highest 90th-percentile month 55).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -11.1 °C, the absolute minimum -22.9 °C, 5,062 frost nights in 44 years, 115.0 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 37.3 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low -4.3 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range -8.3 °C to -1.1 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 31.5 °C in July (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -11.1 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 37 to 53% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected -143 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Group. Listed under the family Cactaceae in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “succulent subshrub or shrub”. A group is taken only where Kew's description of the species agrees with the table's listing. The table gives no figure and no prose; the cold floor is the habitat's alone.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Cylindropuntia whipplei through the yearWarmest month July, mean daily high 32 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low -4.3 °C; 335 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-40°-20°0°20°40°frost37.3° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-22.9° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100mm rainDLI 19–54RH 37–53%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 683 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C7 / 3–119 / 5–1313 / 10–1618 / 15–2124 / 21–2729 / 27–3232 / 29–3430 / 27–3226 / 23–2920 / 17–2312 / 9–167 / 3–11
Night °C-4 / -8–-1-3 / -7–00 / -3–34 / 1–79 / 6–1214 / 12–1718 / 15–2117 / 14–2013 / 10–167 / 4–91 / -3–3-4 / -8–-1
Rain mm30 / 19–4433 / 18–4933 / 20–4921 / 13–3114 / 9–229 / 6–1437 / 21–6546 / 28–8431 / 22–4830 / 22–4024 / 17–3627 / 19–42
DLI21 / 19–2227 / 26–2837 / 35–3846 / 44–4751 / 50–5254 / 53–5549 / 47–5144 / 42–4539 / 38–4031 / 29–3223 / 21–2419 / 17–20
RH %53 / 50–5652 / 49–5649 / 46–5243 / 41–4740 / 37–4337 / 33–4043 / 39–4646 / 41–5044 / 41–4846 / 43–4948 / 46–5252 / 49–55
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 683 grid cells holding the 1644 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1052:1327 (37.375, -113.625). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -22.9 °C, 1st-percentile night -11.1 °C, 99th-percentile day 37.3 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 683 distinct grid cells holding 1644 of the 1644 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1052:1327 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 37.50_-113.750, lapse-corrected -143 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1612 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeColorado, Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker37.679, -113.243 · in the densest population, 858 records (47% of those in range)
Kew's description“succulent subshrub or shrub” · “desert or dry shrubland” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 1823 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 1644 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 658 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 42 km away. 2 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 179 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
Other GBIF keysRecords also from GBIF's key 3084256 (Cylindropuntia whipplei (Engelm. & J.M.Bigelow) F.M.Knuth): Kew's file holds it as Cylindropuntia whipplei (Engelm. & J.M.Bigelow) F.M.Knuth (accepted); 900 records, from GBIF's search API on the day of the build.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 1823 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Cylindropuntia whipplei, photograph 1did not loadCylindropuntia whipplei, photograph 2did not loadCylindropuntia whipplei, photograph 3did not loadCylindropuntia whipplei, photograph 4did not loadCylindropuntia whipplei, photograph 5did not loadCylindropuntia whipplei, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Jo Roberts, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Andrew Dudley, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Berberis fremontii Berberis fremontii Berberidaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Stan ShebsYucca angustissima Yucca angustissima Narrowleaf yucca Photo: CC BY, CK2AZOenothera longissima Oenothera longissima Long-stem evening-primrose Photo: CC BY-SA, Stan ShebsMirabilis multiflora Mirabilis multiflora Colorado Four o'Clock Photo: CC BY, Jo RobertsPenstemon palmeri Penstemon palmeri Palmer penstemon Photo: CC BY, Asher P HigginsYucca baileyi Yucca baileyi Alpine yucca Photo: CC BY, brettaugust

Other Cylindropuntia 30 in the reference

Cylindropuntia acanthocarpa Cylindropuntia acanthocarpa Buckhorn cholla Photo: CC BY, Andrew DudleyCylindropuntia alcahes Cylindropuntia alcahes Brincadora Cholla Photo: CC BY, Abraham Sánchez RomeroCylindropuntia arbuscula Cylindropuntia arbuscula Arizona Pencil Cholla Photo: CC BY, Bruce HartmanCylindropuntia bernardina Cylindropuntia bernardina California Cholla Photo: CC BY, Adam J. SearcyCylindropuntia bigelovii Cylindropuntia bigelovii Cactaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Cactus.manCylindropuntia californica Cylindropuntia californica Snake cholla Photo: CC BY, Roberto Daniel Avila Cylindropuntia × campii Cactaceae Cylindropuntia caribaea Cylindropuntia caribaea Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, Laurimar SepulvedaCylindropuntia cholla Cylindropuntia cholla Baja California Cholla Photo: CC BY, Abraham Sánchez RomeroCylindropuntia chuckwallensis Cylindropuntia chuckwallensis Chuckwalla Cholla Photo: CC BY, Ian McFaulCylindropuntia echinocarpa Cylindropuntia echinocarpa Wiggins's cholla Photo: CC BY, CK2AZCylindropuntia fosbergii Cylindropuntia fosbergii Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, Rosario Douglas all 31 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Grusonia whipplei; Opuntia whipplei; Opuntia whipplei var. whipplei. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Cactaceae
Described by
(Engelm. & J.M.Bigelow) F.M.Knuth
Native to
Colorado, Arizona, California +3
Wild records
1823 in range · 658 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22GBIF's key 12183042 is Cylindropuntia whipplei (Peebles) M.A.Baker; Kew accepts Cylindropuntia whipplei (Engelm. & J.M.Bigelow) F.M.Knuth, and the name is cited as Kew accepts it; its synonyms and common names are read from GBIF's Cylindropuntia whipplei (Engelm. & J.M.Bigelow) F.M.Knuth (3084256) too
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-223 read from GBIF's Cylindropuntia whipplei (Engelm. & J.M.Bigelow) F.M.Knuth (3084256)
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredasked 2026-10-22GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 900 records of GBIF's key 3084256, Cylindropuntia whipplei (Engelm. & J.M.Bigelow) F.M.Knuth (Kew's file holds it as Cylindropuntia whipplei (Engelm. & J.M.Bigelow) F.M.Knuth (accepted)): GBIF occurrence search API
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 37.50_-113.750, lapse-corrected -143 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22found by its label; its IPNI identifier 73913-2 is Kew's for Cylindropuntia whipplei (Engelm. & J.M.Bigelow) F.M.Knuth
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22read from the page's key and its other keys: 132 from GBIF's key 3084256
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 10 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

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