Opuntia macrocentra populations of "Opuntia macrocentra" are found in Arizona, New Mexico, Southwestern Texas, and Northwestern Mexico. This cacti is a slow growing perennial that inhabits a wide range of soil substrates and habitat types. It can be found below the elevation of 5000 ft in areas of sandy desert flats, rocky hills, or valley grasslands. "Opuntia macrocentra" is an upright spreading shrub, usually growing from tall. Individuals occasionally reach in height. The stem is blue-gray, blue-green, or purplish in color. The purple pad color is the most intense at the edges of the pad or around the areoles. The purple color
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