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A common cylindropuntia in the northwestern Sonoran Desert, Opuntia acanthocarpa, was investigated for the following hypotheses: its lower elevational limit is set by high temperatures, so its seedlings require nurse plants; its upper elevational limit is set by freezing; spine shading is the least at intermediate elevations; and changes in plant size and frequency with elevation reflect net CO2 uptake ability. For four elevations ranging from 230 m to 1,050 m, the mean height of O. acanthocarpa approximately doubled and its frequency increased 14-fold. Nurse plants were associated with only 4% of O. acanthocarpa less than 20 cm tall at the two lower elevations compared with 57% at 1,050 m, where putative freezing damage was especially noticeable, suggesting that nurse plants protect from low temperature damage. Spine shading of the stem doubled from the lowest to the highest elevation. Net CO2 uptake, which followed a Crassulacean acid metabolism pattern, was maximal at day/night air temperatures of 25/15degreesC and was halved by 4 weeks of drought and by reducing the photosynthetic photon flux from 30 to 12 mol m(-2) day(-1). The root system of O. acanthocarpa was shallow, with a mean depth of only 9 cm for the largest plants. Root growth was substantial and similar for plants at 25/15degreesC and 35/25degreesC, decreasing over 70-fold at 15/5degreesC and 45/35degreesC. Based on cellular uptake of the vital stain neutral red, neither roots nor stems tolerated tissue temperatures below -5degreesC for 1 h while both showed substantial high temperature acclimation, roots tolerating 1 h at 61degreesC and stems 1 h at 70degreesC for plants grown at 35/25degreesC. The increase in height and frequency of O. acanthocarpa with elevation apparently reflected both a greater ability for net CO2 uptake and greater root growth and hence water uptake. This species achieves its greatest ecological success at elevations where it becomes vulnerable to low temperature damage.