The flowers are up to 1 inch (2.5 cm) wide and have colorful tepals, a pink style, and whitish stigma lobes. The flowers emerge at the tips of the old fruit. The fruit is smooth, green, and proliferating (new fruits grow out of old fruits, forming long, widening fruit chains). The stems are very tuberculate (bumpy) and variably spiny, with few to many straw-colored spines. The spiny stem segments easily detach from the plant, almost seeming to "jump" on you if you accidentally brush against them. The spines are covered in micro-barbs and can be very difficult to pull out of your skin. Fallen stem segments litter the ground beneath the plants and can take root, forming new plants.

Santa Catalina Mountains
Sabino Canyon Recreation Area
Location: Near tram road .1 mile from Visitor Center.
4/19/16

See SEINet Pictures and Description

See FireFly Forest Pictures and Description