Opuntia oricola to 6 centimeters long. It was common along the coasts and adjacent inland areas of California, but development has reduced its populations. Opuntia oricola Opuntia oricola is a species of prickly pear cactus known by the common name chaparral prickly pear. It is native to southern California and Baja California, where it grows in coastal sage scrub and chaparral habitats. "Opuntia oricola" is a large treelike cactus often exceeding 2 meters in height. The branches are made up of rounded flat segments up to 25 centimeters long. It is covered in clusters of curved, yellowish spines usually around 2 centimeters
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