Boxing glove cholla around the world
@gitanomad posted a comment on his observation here of Cylindropuntia fulgida var. mamillata curious as to why var. mamillata has been observed worldwide (see map), odd for a variety of a New World species. Spot-checking the observations from Africa and Australia, they all differ quite a bit from what is locally identified as that variety (key to varieties here). The stems are thicker, the tubercles denser and the stems often fasciate, sometimes cresting (a form of fasciation).
I don't know its provenance, but it appears someone found a fasciating var. mamillata, took joints or cuttings and started cultivating it, marketing it as "boxing glove cactus".
Cuttings made their way to Australia, southern Africa and Iberia where they escaped cultivation and became a bit of a pest. There are articles online on biological control using cochineal insects.
There are some variations in the plants found abroad; some seem to have given up fasciation but still carry the characters above - thick stems and dense tubercles.
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