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Cholla pronounced cho-ya is a Spanish word that means joints or jointed. There are nine different species of Cholla.
Another name for Cholla is Jumping Cactus, because of the disconcerting habit of coming unjointed easily. If you touch even one spine it is enough to detach a joint, then when you move more joints become lodged in your skin. To make matters worse, the spines are barbed and therefore difficult to remove. We desert rats carry a comb with us. Remove the spines by sticking the comb under the cactus and flipping it away. The trick is to not flip it back into your skin. The next step is to take a pair of pliers and remove the remaining barbs. Sounds like fun, doesn't it? Wanna come visit?
I really like the upcloseness of this pic. Hope you enjoy.