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I have no idea whether all this taxonomy on these two prickly pear species is backed up by molecular work or not. In the end let the cactus nerds fight about it. All the members of this complex are probably hybridizing and banging anyway

First personal sighting of this plant! Accessed with property owners permission and guidance. These hills seem to be a much more likely habitat then further in, for example, Robinson canyon near the pine creek ranch. The spring basin wilderness has good spottings and easier access then other posts. Fruits mostly dehissed, with maybe 1 accidentally holding onto a seed. Fruit not very fleshy fleshy but splitting and protected somewhat inaccessibly under the spines. Between the ribs contained viable seeds that had fallen onto the plant. No plant visible much smaller then a plum fruit. Growing predominantly in association with basalt outcrops with older, settled tallace piles. Growing in conjunction with an Opuntia Sp. Pictured last. Guessing 1/12 individuals were dead. Many, have resprouted several times from an old base. The property owner who is somewhat familiar with their habits said that “they bloom every spring, and about every 10 years or so, a fire comes through that’ll wipe a lot of them out”. I assume fire decreases competition of the grasses etc. which they seem to prefer less of, and could possibly promote seed growth (scarification) , but that some plants resprout after fires (some as pictured were definitely dead) second to last photo shows some of the soil the was upturned near some of these, but they gravitate towards the basalt.

This photo is from a scanned print. Photo taken in 1987. GPS location is not exact, but photo was taken in the San Juan River arm of Lake Powell near Zahn Bay, Utah. Location was accessed by foot from Lake Powell.

—Sclerocactus dawsonii—THIS IS NO LONGER A GLAUCUS AS IT IS LABELED. Quite a rare and obscure endemic Colorado species. Formerly known as Sclerocactus glaucus “De Beque form”, but is now classified as its own species by the USFWS.