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elkhorn cactus n

[From the configuration of its branches]

A cholla (here: Cylindropuntia spp).

  • 1861 WI Patriot (Madison) 12 Oct 3/2 CO, We have to-day seen a new variety of the vegetable creation. The Elkhorn cactus, with its bright yellow seed, stands as high as a man’s chin.
  • 1870 Penn Mth. 1.345 NM, A trail conducts you through this growth of sage brush, pinon and elk-horn cactus.
  • 1911 World Today 20.699 CO, A tumbled waste of bare mountains, here red, there white with alkali, dusty elkhorn cacti and glistening flakes of mica shut you in for the first few miles.
  • 1940 Fergusson Our Southwest 95, The fuzzy nap on the elkhorn cactus turns out to be vicious spines.
  • 2005 Los Angeles Times (CA) 8 Mar (Internet) AZ, The terrain is strewn with boulders and desert plants—towering saguaro and sprouts of seaweed-like ocotillos; shoulder-high staghorn and elkhorn cactus.