Opuntia chlorotica Opuntia chlorotica Opuntia chlorotica is a species of plant in the Cactaceae family. It is a species of prickly pear native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. Its common names include pancake prickly pear, flapjack prickly pear and dollarjoint prickly pear. This cactus is bluish-green and manifests a bushy to erect form that may attain a height of two meters or more. Some analysis of the prehistoric range of "O. chlorotica" has been conducted by studies in the Waterman Mountains of Arizona; these pollen core analyses indicate that this cactus species was present in northern Arizona in late
Opuntia readily between species. This can make classification difficult, yielding a reticulate phylogeny where different species come together in hybridization. Also, not all species listed here may actually belong in this genus, meaning that "Opuntia" is not a monophyletic group. "Opuntia" also has a tendency for polyploidy. The ancestral diploid state was 2n=22, but many species are hexaploid (6n = 66) or octaploid (8n = 88). Chollas, now recognized to belong to the distinct genus "Cylindropuntia", are distinguished by having cylindrical, rather than flattened, stem segments with large barbed spines. The stem joints of several species, notably the jumping cholla ("Cylindropuntia