Native to southern Arizona, Opuntia versicolor is a madly branching variably spined shrub to 12 feet tall but usually much smaller. In time it forms a woody trunk at the base up to 4 inches thick. It is known as "Staghorn Cholla" because of it's branching resembles the horns of a deer. Stems can be green to purple, the purple varieties being the most attractive in the landscape. In spring it produces an abundance of green, orange, yellow, bronze, or magenta flowers. I suspect the extreme variability of the flower color resulted in the species scientific name.
     This was also started from a small green stemmed cutting about ten years ago. It was removed to make more room for other stuff. I took plenty of cuttings though, I like the flowers on this one. I also acquired a cutting of a purple stemmed one recently.