I have been trying for a long time to ID this cactus but so far have been unable. I hope the pictures downloaded as I had trouble with that, too. At any rate, I am in 29 Palms, CA, and these cactus will grow anywhere they land when they fall off the main plant. They have odd-shaped and different shaped "arms" to them Please advise. Thanks.
So cool you live near Joshua State Park. I always wanted to hike there.
By your description that they root where they land I immediately thought of chollas. But typically, they are covered in dense and incredibly hurtful spines. Chollas also grow in abundance where you are.
You see the white dots on your cactus? Areolas. Are there spines growing from them? I cannot tell by your photos.
I also see where yours is cresting which is also typical of some chollas.
I looked around and found this 1. Cylindropuntia fulgida var. mammillata 'Monstrosa'. Click thru the photos, I see similarities with yours.
https://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/464591/
Also Google Cylindropuntia fulgida f. cristata and Cylindropuntia fulgida 'Monstrosa.'
Thanks for the pictures and ID I don't really think they are cholla, though the boxing glove cholla does look a lot like what I have. I see they are from South Africa, which is interesting I thought it might be an opuntia (ID from Seek) but then did not see anything that looked like my cactus in the opuntia pics I could find. They do have lots of spikes. All the white spots are spikes. They stick right into anything (including me) that comes close to them, and the piece that sticks will then hold on tight and are hard to remove completely. Very tenacious plant.
Yes, Joshua Tree is a great park with lots of variety of plants and animals and very busy most of the year, even in the summer.
Thanks for the info. This looks like it is the correct ID. Very weird cactus but I like it.
