''Tephrocactus articulatus'' is a species of

cactus A cactus (, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1750 known species of the order Caryophyllales. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Greek ...

in the subfamily

Opuntioideae Opuntioideae is a subfamily of the cactus family, Cactaceae. It contains 15 genera divided into five tribes. The subfamily encompasses roughly 220–250 species, and is geographically distributed throughout the New World from Canada, to Argentina ...

of the plant family Cactaceae. They usually grow branches up to one foot tall with white flowers. Propagation is usually through cuttings. Stem segments easily break away and will root without special treatment. Plants may also be grown from seeds. Spring blooms open at end-of-evening nautical twilight, and close shortly after sunrise. They originate in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, but are cultivated in outdoor landscaping in warm desert climates such as

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...

. Varieties have been recognized, including var. ''inermis'' (spruce cone cactus) and var. ''papyracanthus'' (paper spine cholla cactus), but none are accepted by

Plants of the World Online Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. It was launched in March 2017 with the ultimate aim being "to enable users to access information on all the world's known seed-bearing plants by ...

Images

File:Tephrocactus_articulatus_3.jpg, In Springs Preserve garden, Las Vegas File:Opuntia diademata 2.JPG, "var. ''diadematus''" File:Opuntia diademata 11.JPG, "var. ''diadematus''" details File:Opuntia diademata inermis 2.JPG, "var. ''inermis''"

Subspecies

* ''Tephrocactus articulatus'' var. ''articulatus'' * ''Tephrocactus articulatus'' var. ''oligocanthus'' * ''Tephrocactus articulatus'' var. ''strobiliformis''

References

Paper Spine Cactus (Tephrocactus articulatus)

External links

Kew Plant List

IPNI Listing
articulatus {{Cactus-stub