This 2–5-foot tall tangle of thorny pencil-sized branches bristles with thorns. Spiny stem joints snag on clothes, shoes, or flesh. Note the yellowish-green flowers, numerous small, oval, red fruit, and areoles with only one spine. Leptocaulis refers to the  slender, 3/16 inch diameter stems.

FLOWER: May–August. Numerous pale yellowish-green flowers, 1/2–1-inch wide (12–25 mm), develop into smooth, oval, fleshy, red fruits, 3/8–5/8-inch (9–15 mm) long, also armed with glochid barbs. Sometimes called Desert Christmas Cactus because the red fruit decorate the plant throughout winter. Plants often bloom continually throughout the summer with a few flowers at a time.

SPINES: Each areole on the green stems bears 1 reddish-brown spine, 3/4–2-inches long (20–50 mm) with a sheath covering easily slipped off; the tufts of tiny, hair-like glochid barbs can painfully work into bare skin.

HABITAT: Dry, sandy, rocky, limestone, gypsum soils; desert grasslands; creosote bush, mesquite, juniper-oak scrublands.

ELEVATION: 3,100–5,900 feet.

RANGE: AZ, NM, OK, TX.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Candle Cholla, C. kleiniae, in the same range, has candle–sized stems 1/4–1/2 inch diameter (6–12 mm) with 1–4 spines per areole, and reddish-bronze flowers. The nearly statewide  Cane Cholla, C. imbricata, has 3/4–1 1/4-inch diameter (20–32 mm) stems, magenta flowers, and yellow fruit.

NM COUNTIES: Southern and eastern NM in low- to mid-elevation, arid habitats: Bernalillo, Chaves, De Baca, Dona Ana, Eddy, Grant, Guadalupe, Hidalgo, Lea, Lincoln, Luna, Otero, Quay, San Miguel, Sierra, Socorro, Valencia.