Citation: Engelm. & Bigel., Descr. Cact. 47 (1856) var. utahensis (Engelm.)L. Benson, Cacti of Arizona edn 3:20 (1969).

Synonymy: Fruit green to yellow-green, dry, spiny, to 3 cm long.

Common name: Grizzly bear cactus.

Description:
Low much-branched spreading shrubs to 80 cm high; joints flattened, obovate, 5-10 cm long; leaves deciduous; areoles with numerous glochids; spines 1-8, usually absent from the lower areoles; white to pale-grey or brownish, the longer to 4 cm long, deflexed.

Flowers white or yellow to red, to 6 cm across.

--O. utahensis Engelm., Trans. St Louis Acad. Sci. 11:199 (1863); O. rhodantha Schumann, Monatsschr. Kakteenk. 6:111 (1896).

Published illustration: Graf (1963) Exotica 3:475.

Distribution:    Native to south-western U.S.A. Conservation status: naturalised Flowering time: late spring — summer.

SA Distribution Map based on current data relating to specimens held in the State Herbarium of South Australia

Biology: No text

Author: Not yet available