Cholla cactus...

[PALADIN85020]

For those of you who have not frequented the Southwest much, I want to introduce you to a very special indigenous plant down here. It's a variety of cactus known as cholla. Because that's a Spanish word, the double-l is pronounced as "y", and the word is pronounced "choy-a." In Spanish, I believe the literal translation is "Holy ****, this thing HURTS!"

Its popular name is "jumping cactus." Although it doesn't really jump, if any part of your body brushes up against one, a spiny clump of the cactus breaks off and semi-permanently attaches itself to that part of your body. The spines, when viewed under a magnifying glass, are really shaped like tiny fishhooks. They imbed themselves in your flesh and clothing. Every one of them SMARTS, because they leave a stinging residue that, when they are painfully removed with pliers, fester for days.

Here is a graphic example. It can really ruin your day.

When I was a kid, my parents and I had climbed to the top of Camelback Mountain, a Phoenix landmark. Coming down, I decided to sit down and slide - it seemed less risky at the time. Unfortunately, I slid right into a cholla, and the results were much like the picture above.

I once had a German Shepherd, and I took him out shooting with me one afternoon. He decided he'd sniff a cholla. Rookie mistake. He was very brave as I removed the spines, one by one, from his nose with a pair of pliers. I still shudder about how much that must have hurt him.

So - you've been warned. The Southwest is beautiful, but it can also be painful if you're not careful.

John

 

[rwsmith]

Jumping cactus

This thing is called the 'Jumping Cactus' because it seem to reach out to nail you. I saw a picture of a guy whose foot got into one and it looked like he had a keg of nails driven into his foot. The fellow in the picture you have looks like he's got some real problems.

I don't know what's worse for a dog. A cholla or a porcupine?

 

[Jimmyjones]

Yup cholla hurt. Years ago in Tempe I jumped over the neighbors privacy fence to retrieve my kids downed kite and landed on a cholla. Pinned my hand to my side just above the hip.
Separated my hand from my side using a set of wire end cutters then nursed the festering spines for months. Still have the scars.

 

[WuzzFuzz]

I lived down there in the dry heat once upon a time, a long time ago!!!!. Now if there was ever going to be a burglar deterrent, then some of that Cholla cactus, placed under the windows, or maybe in a dresser drawer, all by itself. That'd do it...wouldn't it John?

I think anyone who has ever lived there has become acquainted with it some time or the other...The wrong way.


Oh, that guy in the picture, covered with the Cholla...he should have just let his golf ball go, instead of going in and fetching it.


WuzzFuzz

 

[DR505]

At two years old my son would warn me whenever he saw an "Ouchy Cactus" since he had trouble with the word Cholla.

 

[Kinman]

My first experience with Cholla cactus was while working on my newly acquired 1949 Dodge Power Wagon, it had come up from Tucson shortly before I got my hands on it. I had started the tear-down which would eventually work itself into a complete mechanical restoration. I had alread found 20lbs of pack rat droppings under the seat and in various places and was in the process of "feeling" my way around the area of space between the upper part of the transfer case and the bottom of the box boards when I ran into something sharp and immediately thought I had gotten stung by a transient scorpion or something...it was painful. When I pulled my hand out I found myself attached to one of those little balls of spines and when I went to grab the ball to pull it off my fingers the other hand got caught up. Nasty little plant you got down there...I can't imagine anyone wanting to fool around with those things, I think I'd rather mess around with razor wire.

 

[DR505]

I've heard the ones like this referred to as "Teddy Bear Cholla" cactus as well...but don't think they're snuggly!

 

[Ματθιας]

We have those around the perimeter of the property. Tactical cactus.

 

[OLDNAVYMCPO]

Had a miniature toy poodle that decided to tangle with one. Took me hours to free the pooch. Couldn't touch the cacti, so had to resort to using a Buck folding knife. Would carefully close the lock blade on each cactus branch and as gently as possible, work each section free. Don't know how the dog stood the pain. We were out in the desert quail hunting, no shade, sun beating down, no way to pick the dog up and carry her. Just had to tough it out. The dog and I were both relieved when we finally got all the cactus removed and finally got back to the truck for water and A/C. Not the best afternoon.

 

[opoefc]

Growing up as a kid in southern Ariz. I and my friends were always seemed to attach ourselves to a piece of cactus of some variety on a daily regular basis, whether it was a Cholla, a fish hook barrel cactus, a saguaro, a prickly pear cactus, Ocatillo or what ever. You would often see range cattle with masses of Cholla attached to their hide but it did not seem to bother them. We would knock off the Cholla with a stick and since their hide was so thick apparently the remaining spines didn't penetrate. It sure bothered us, however, if we got a piece of Cholla stuck to us. Ed. .

 

[TucsonMTB]

I am a little surprised that no one mentioned the essential "tool" for Sonoran Desert outings . . . a large, coarse comb.

We have combs strategically placed in the seat bags of all our mountain bikes where they can be reached quickly and easily.

A comb is the only thing I know of that works for fending of Cholla cactus attacks and I have survived many.

Sometimes they attach and don't even hurt until you brush up against something else.

On a related note . . . I have never fallen while biking in the desert without landing on a Prickly Pear cactus.

The large spines are dangerously effective but the fine hair-like Gochlids are almost worse for long term discomfort.

Hey, nobody has ever said that I am clever. There are plenty of reasons why . . .

 

[chud333]

Not been around those things me being from the midwest
and all. But the guy pictured sure looks like he could use a hug,
and the firefighters/emergency responders, don't look like
they are gonna volunteer. And the looks on their faces just
seem to say, "Dude your screwed".

Chuck

 

[MarineSgtjimh]

small clumps of cholla placed just under the soft dirt in cat potty sites will cause the felines to seek other locations for their foul business.

 

[Big Cholla]

As I have said before; us old desert cowboys carried two items 100% of the time while on horseback and in the desert: a woman's rattail comb and a top quality set of surgical tweezers (the kind that look like a pair of scissors. They were mainly for pulling cholla out of our horses legs, but sometimes out of us. I have told the story a couple of time how I got my 'handle' by getting very well acquainted with a little cholla cacti bush. The tweezers worked by my buds took care of most of the embedded spines, but a few were broken off flush and had to fester their way out on their own. Took a while. I have the utmost of respect for the Cholla Cacti. It is said that every living thing in the desert stinks, bites or stings. ............... Big Cholla

 

[Roadtrash]

You're right Cholla, there's nothing in the desert that likes humans. Been here 20 years myself and I've had my run ins with all sorts of things that didn't like me but so far I have survived.

It's funny but most of the people that I run into out here have never heard of using a comb to remove the cute little things. They have to learn from somebody like me that grew up in SC and GA.

 

[LoboGunLeather]

Lots of cholla here in southern Colorado. One of nature's most puzzling mysteries is how the quail can live in and run around through the cholla without ever getting stuck. Cottontails don't seem to have any trouble either.

They sure are pretty when they come into bloom (just a few days each year). Every patch seems to have a different color blossoms; golden yellow, dark pink, blood red, purple. Clouds of bees and hummingbirds appear out of nowhere.

 

[Stevens]

Bad stuff, the arms break off and stay stuck on whatever brushed up to them. Some got stuck on the leg of a horse I had as a kid I still remember his skin quivering as we pulled it off and the spines out.
Steve

 

[bobcat]

I spent several years in the Border Patrol in the sunny southwest. One night I had a load car bail out on I-8. Those poor souls hit the frontage road fence and some got tore up on that, then it was into the nastiest patch of Cholla cactus we had in the valley. The aliens were walking out and surrendering and they were covered in cholla. Unfortunately while chasing said aliens I clipped a cactus and got nailed bad in the knee. An alien helped me knock the clump off my knee, then I ended up in the ER getting plucked. The nurses were snickering that at least I hadn't sat in it, which I didn't find all that amusing at the time. My knee was swollen badly for a few days, they gave me a course of antibiotics, and I plucked festering cactus spines out of my knee for a LONG time. Nasty stuff, and I don't miss it. We do have some ground cactus here in Montana, and the occasional spine is the penalty for crawling after game, but nothing like Cholla.

 

[BearBio]

We were hunting javelina, a sorta cousin to the pig, down south of Tucson. A Cuban friend came into camp, threw down his rifle, muttering that "this is a helluva country here. Everything bites, even the plants!" Without even looking at him, I reached for the vice-grips.

I've had it penetrate the LUGS (not the grooves) on the tires of an old-style Landcruiser!

 

[chaparrito]

In boy scouts many decades ago we witnessed the rescue of a hiker who had slipped off a ledge and fallen on his back in a huge clump of Cholla. At that night's campfire we had a real "what have we learned today?" discussion.
Some of the best Javelina hunting is in Cholla groves, they love to eat the fruit and aren't bothered by the occasional barb apparently. I've had those suckers go right through a boot more times than I'd care to remember. A porcupine quill is no match for their ability to penetrate.