Cactuses of the Southwest

Usage examples of chollas.

And then they seize me calmly, without malice, having known all along that it was bound to come to this in the end, and they strip me, they thrust the wooden stake into my heart, they nail me to a towering saguaro, they press me to death beneath flat rocks, they rub chollas into my eyes, they burn me alive, they bury me chest-deep in an anthill, they castrate me with their fingernails, all the while solemnly chanting, Schmeggege, schlemihl, schlemqzel, schmendrick, schlep!

Mesquite trees, Joshua trees, chollas, yuccas, prickly pears - she tried to remember all the spiny, weirdly shaped flora that grew in places like this.