Cylindropuntia alcahes var. burrageana

Usually low and bushy, rarely 1 meter high; stems slender, 1 to 2 cm in diameter, densly spiny, leaves small, 2 mm long, green, early deciduous; old stem and branches terete; young joints cylindric to narrow-clavate, 15 cm long or less; areoles closely set; tubercles rather low, not much broader than long; spines numerous, similar, spreading, rarely 2 cm long, all covered with thin, bright-yellow sheaths; wool in areoles short, brown; glochids, when present, short, light yellow; flower 3 to 4 cm broad; petals few, brownish red with green bases; filaments green; stigma-lobes white; ovary very spiny; fruit not proliferous, globular, 2 cm in diameter, somewhat tuberculate, probably dry; seeds pale, 4 mm in diameter.