Jumping Cholla

Description:

From Wikipedia: "The jumping cholla is an arborescent (tree-like) plant with one low-branching trunk. It often grows to heights of 4 m (12 ft), with drooping branches of chained fruit. The stems are light green and are strongly tuberculate, with tubercles (small, wart-like projections on the stems) measuring 6 to 9 mm. Together, the plants form fantastic looking forests that may range over many hectares."

Habitat:

"The greatest range of the jumping cholla is the entire of Sonora, except the Sierra Madre Occidental cordillera on the east and northeast; the range stops 100 mi north of the Sinaloa border on the south, and it is not found in the northwest in the Gran Desierto de Altar. It does occur on the islands in the Gulf of California, including the major islands of Tiburon and Isla Ángel de la Guarda. In the Southwestern United States, the range extends into the Colorado Desert of California, and in Arizona. There it occurs south and southwest of the Arizona transition zone of the Mogollon Rim; in the northwest-central Sonoran Desert of Arizona, it is in a few selected locales. It also reaches into the northeast section of the Mojave Desert in southern Nevada and Utah, and in the very southern section of the Great Basin Desert of southern Utah. It also occurs just south of the east-west section of the Bill Williams River, east of the Colorado River in the Yuma Desert."