Opuntia rubescens

• Interesting Facts
• Common Names
• Description
• Biology
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Interesting Facts

Common Names

Description

Family Cactaceae

Fleshy perennials , shrubs , trees or vines , terrestrial or epiphytic. Stems jointed , terete , globose , flattened, or fluted , mostly leafless and variously spiny . Leaves alternate, flat or subulate to terete, vestigial, or entirely absent; spines, glochids (easily detached, small, bristlelike spines), and flowers always arising from cushionlike, axillary areoles (modified short shoots ) . Flowers solitary, sessile, rarely clustered and stalked (in Pereskia), bisexual , rarely unisexual , actinomorphic or occasionally zygomorphic. Receptacle tube (hypanthium or perianth tube) absent or short to elongate , naked or invested with leaflike bracts, scales , areoles, and hairs , bristles , or spines; perianth segments usually numerous , in a sepaloid to petaloid series. Stamens numerous, variously inserted in throat and tube; anthers 2-loculed, dehiscing longitudinally. Ovary (pericarpel) inferior, rarely superior, 1-loculed, with 3 to many parietal (rarely basal) placentas; ovules usually numerous; style 1; stigmas 2 to numerous, papillate , rarely 2-fid. Fruit juicy or dry, naked, scaly , hairy , bristly , or spiny, indehiscent or dehiscent , when juicy then pulp derived from often deliquescent funicles (except in Pereskia) . Seeds usually numerous, often arillate or strophiolate ; embryo curved or rarely straight; endosperm present or absent; cotyledons reduced or vestigial, rarely leaflike.

About 110 genera and more than 1000 species: temperate and tropical America; Rhipsalis baccifera (J. S. Mueller) Stearn native in tropical Africa, Madagascar, Comoros, Mascarenes, and Sri Lanka; some species of other genera now extensively naturalized in the Old World through human agency; more than 60 genera and 600 species cultivated as ornamentals or hedges in China, of which four genera and seven species more or less naturalized.[1]

Genus Opuntia

Trees or shrubs , erect to trailing , usually many branched, sometimes forming clumps or mats; trunk , when present, initially segmented , appearing continuous with age, main axis determinate, usually terete . Stem segments green or sometimes reddish to purple, usually flattened, circular, elliptic , ovate , lanceolate, or obovate to oblanceolate , 2-60(-120) × 1.2-40 cm, nearly smooth to tuberculate , glabrous or pubescent ; areoles usually elliptic, circular, or obovate, 3-8(-10) × 1-7(-10) mm; wool white, gray, or tan to brown, aging white or gray to black. Spines 0-15+ per areole, white, yellow to brown, red-brown to gray, or black, sometimes partly to wholly white chalky (chalkiness disappearing when wet), aging gray to dark brown to black, with epidermis intact, not sheathed, acicular to subulate , sometimes setose or with hairlike bristles , terete to angular-flattened, to 75(-170) mm, tips sometimes paler or yellow. Glochids in adaxial crescent at margin of areole, in tuft or encircling areole margin, white to yellow to brown, or red-brown, aging white to brown or red-brown. Flowers bisexual or sometimes functionally staminate , radially symmetric ; outer tepals green to yellow with margins tinged color of inner tepals; inner tepals pale yellow to orange, pink to red or magenta, rarely white (unicolored) or with base of a different color (bicolored ), oblong to spatulate , emarginate-apiculate; nectar chamber simple , open, not covered by proximal thickening style. Pollen yellow, grains reticulate or foveolate (opuntioid type). Fruits sometimes proliferating (sprouting from another fruit), if fleshy , green, yellow, or red to purple or, if dry, tan to gray, straight, sometimes stipitate , clavate to cylindric , ovoid , or obovoid to subspheric, 10-120 × 8-120 mm, fleshy to juicy or dry, smooth or tuberculate, spineless or spiny , sometimes burlike. Seeds pale yellow to tan or gray, generally circular to reniform , flattened (discoid ) to subspheric, angular to squarish, sometimes warped, 2-7 × 2-7 mm, glabrous, commonly bearing 1-4 large, shallow depressions due to pressures from adjacent developing seeds; girdle protruding 0.3-3.5 mm, forming ridge or flat wing , or not protruding. x = 11.

Species ca. 150 species: widespread in North America, Mexico, West Indies, South America, including the Galápagos Islands; some species introduced to and naturalized in the Old World.

Many taxa are cultivated for ornamental plants , food, and animal fodder . Some species of Opuntia become obnoxious weeds ; some species have been planted in Africa for stabilization of sand dunes.

Many interspecific hybrids are known and have been named; only five are fully treated here; two other named hybrids recognized by the author are briefly described and cross-referenced under putative parent taxa.[2]

Physical Description

Biology

Reproduction

Duration: Perennial

Growth

Culture: Space 15-18" apart.

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Full Sun .

Moisture: Drought Tolerance: High

Temperature: Cold Hardiness: 9b, 10a, 10b, 11. (map)

Taxonomy

Synonyms

Cactus rubescens< /i> (Salm-Dyck Ex Dc.) Lem. • Consolea rubescens< /i> (Salm-Dyck Ex Dc.) Lem. • Opuntia rubescens Salm-Dyck ex Dc.

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Last scrutiny: 15-Mar-2000

Similar Species

Members of the genus Opuntia

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 389 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus. Here are just 100 of them:

O. acanthocarpa (Buckhorn Cholla) · O. acanthocarpa Engelm. & Bigelow var. acanthocarpa Engelm. & Bigelow (Buckhorn Cholla) · O. acanthocarpa Engelm. & Bigelow var. coloradensis L.Benson (Colorado Buckhorn Cholla) · O. acanthocarpa Engelm. & Bigelow var. major (Engelm. & Bigelow) L.Benson (Buckhorn Cholla) · O. acanthocarpa Engelm. & Bigelow var. thornberi (Thornb. & Bonker) L.Benson (Thornber Buckhorn Cholla) · O. acanthocarpa var. acanthocarpa (Buckhorn Cholla) · O. acanthocarpa var. coloradensis (Colorado Buckhorn Cholla) · O. acanthocarpa var. major (Slender Joint Buckhorn Cholla) · O. acanthocarpa var. thornberi (Thornber's Buckhorn Cholla) · O. acaulis (Opuntia) · O. acicularis (Old Man Whiskers) · O. aciculata (Chenille Prickly Pear) · O. aggeria (Big Bend Pricklypear) · O. alko-tuna (Opuntia) · O. amyclaea (Opuntia) · O. anacantha (Opuntia) · O. anacantha var. kiska-loro (Opuntia) · O. anacantha var. retrorsa (Opuntia) · O. anacantha var. utikilio (Opuntia) · O. apurimacensis (Opuntia) · O. arbuscula (Arizona Pencil Cholla) · O. arcei (Opuntia) · O. arenaria (El Paso Pricklypear) · O. armata (Opuntia) · O. assumptionis (Opuntia) · O. atrispina (Border Prickly-Pear) · O. atropes (Opuntia) · O. atrovirens (Opuntia) · O. auberi (Lengua De Vaca) · O. aurantiaca (Jointed Prickly Pear) · O. aurea (Creeping Beavertail) · O. aureispina (Golden-Spined Prickly Pear) · O. azurea (Coyotillo) · O. basilaris (Beavertail Cactus) · O. basilaris Engelm. & Bigelow var. basilaris (Beavertail Pricklypear) · O. basilaris Engelm. & Bigelow var. brachyclada (Griffiths) Munz (Beavertail Pricklypear) · O. basilaris Engelm. & Bigelow var. heilii Welsh & Neese (Heil's Beavertail Pricklypear) · O. basilaris Engelm. & Bigelow var. longiareolata (Clover & Jotter) L.Benson (Beavertail Pricklypear) · O. basilaris Engelm. & Bigelow var. treleasei (Coult.) Coult. ex Toumey (Bakersfield Cactus) · O. basilaris var. albiflorus (Beavertail Cactus) · O. basilaris var. basilaris (Beavertail Pricklypear) · O. basilaris var. brachyclada (Short Joint Beaver Tail Cactus) · O. basilaris var. Caudata (Short-Joint Beaver-Tail Cactus) · O. basilaris var. cordata (Beavertail Cactus) · O. basilaris var. heilii (Bevertail Cactus) · O. basilaris var. humistrata (Beavertail Cactus) · O. basilaris var. longiareolata (Beavertail Cactus) · O. basilaris var. treleasei (Treleases Beavertail Prickly Pear) · O. bella (Opuntia) · O. bensonii (Opuntia) · O. bigelovii (Teddy-Bear Cactus) · O. bigelovii var. bigelovii (Teddybear Cholla) · O. bisetosa (Opuntia) · O. boldinghii (Opuntia) · O. bonplandii (Opuntia) · O. borinquensis (Olaga) · O. brasiliensis (Brazil Prickleypear) · O. bravoana (Opuntia) · O. cactaceae (Prickly Pear) · O. californica (Brownspined Pricklypear) · O. californica var. californica (California Pricklypear) · O. californica var. parkeri (Brownspined Pricklypear) · O. cantabrigiensis (Texas Pricklypear) · O. canterae (Opuntia) · O. caracasana (Opuntia) · O. cardiosperma (Joyful Opuntia) · O. chaffeyi (Sacasil) · O. chakensis (Opuntia) · O. charlestonensis (Plateau Prickly Pear) · O. chavena (Opuntia) · O. chihuahuensis (Chihuahua Pricklypear) · O. chisosensis (Chisos Mountain Pricklypear) · O. chlorotica (Dollar-Joint Prickly-Pear) · O. chlorotica Engelm. & Bigelow var. chlorotica Engelm. & J.M.Bigel. (Clockface Prickly-Pear) · O. clavata (Club Cholla) · O. cochabambensis (Opuntia) · O. cochenillifera (Cochineal Cactus) · O. cognata (Opuntia) · O. colubrina (Opuntia) · O. compressa var. compressa (Common Pricklypear) · O. conjungens (Opuntia) · O. corallicola (Florida Semaphore Cactus) · O. cordobensis (Argentine Pricklypear) · O. crassa (Opuntia) · O. crystalenia (Opuntia) · O. cubensis (Bullsuckers) · O. curassavica (Opuntia) · O. curvospina (Searchlight Pricklypear) · O. cymochila (Grassland Pricklypear) · O. darrahiana (Opuntia) · O. deamii (Opuntia) · O. decumbens (Lengua De Vaca) · O. dejecta (Nopal Chamacuero) · O. delaetiana (Opuntia) · O. demissa (Pricklypear) · O. densispina (Big Bend Prickly-Pear) · O. depauperata (Opuntia) · O. depressa (Opuntia) · O. discata (Smallfruit Cactus) · O. discolor (Opuntia)

More Info

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Further Reading

• A text-book of botany and pharmacognosy, intended for the use of students of pharmacy, as a reference book for pharmacists, and as a handbook for food and drug analysts. London, Lippincott[c1907] url .
• Applied and economic botany for students in technical and agricultural schools, pharmaceutical and medical colleges, for chemists, food analysts and for the those engaged in the morphological and physiological study of plants. New York, Wiley[1916] url p. 627.
• Applied and economic botany, especially adapted for the use of students in technical schools, agricultural, pharmaceutical and medical colleges, and also as a book of reference for chemists, food analysts and students engaged in by Henry Kraemer. .. illustrated with 424 plates, comprising about 2000 figures. Philadelphia, The author[c1914] url , p. 627.
• Carnegie Institution of Washington publication. Washington, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1902- url , p. 202, p. 208, p. 208, p. 209, p. 209, p. 264, p. VII.
• Checklist of CITES Species: a reference to the appendices to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora CITES url p. 262, p. 318, p. 336.
• Common trees of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands / by Elbert L. Little, Jr., and Frank H. Wadsworth. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service, 1964. url , p. 13, p. 378, p. 542.
• Dedication papers: scientific papers presented at the dedication of the laboratory building and plant houses, April 19-21, 1917. Brooklyn, N.Y.: Brooklyn Botanic Garden, 1918. url p. 73.
• Phytologia. Bronx Park, New York, H.A. Gleason and H.N. Moldenke, url p. 342, p. 365.
• The Cactaceae, descriptions and illustrations of plants of the cactus family, by N. L. Britton and J. N. Rose. Washington, The Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1919-23. url p. 163, p. 208.
• The Cactaceae: descriptions and illustrations of plants of the cactus family / by N.L. Britton and J.N. Rose. 1 1919 Washington: Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1919-1923. url figs. 250-252 , figs. 265-267 , figs. 263-264 , p. 202, p. 208, p. 209, p. 264, p. VII.
• The flora of the American Virgin Islands / N.L. Britton. New York: New York Botanical Garden, 1918. url p. 73.
• .Li Zhenyu. 1999. Cactaceae. In: Ku Tsuechih, ed., Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 52(1): 272-285.
• Grant, V. and K. A. Grant. 1979. Systematics of the Opuntia phaeacantha group in Texas. Bot. Gaz. 140: 199-207.
• Parfitt, B. D. and M. A. Baker. 1993. Opuntia. In: J. C. Hickman, ed. 1993. The Jepson Manual. Higher Plants of California. Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London. Pp. 452-457.
• Philbrick, R. N. 1963. Biosystematic studies of two Pacific coast opuntias. Ph.D. thesis. Cornell University.
• Pinkava, D. J. 2003. Cactaceae cactus family: Part 6. J. Arizona-Nevada Acad. Sci. 35: 137-150.

Notes

Contributors

• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 9, 2012.

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal November 16, 2007:

• Missouri Botanical Garden, Missouri Botanical Garden

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 2646208
• Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: ITS-19752
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 13736567
• Globally Unique Identifier: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:137000-1
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN): 19752
• U.S.D.A. Plant Symbol: CORU8
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 32191

Footnotes

1. Zhen-yu Li & Nigel P. Taylor "Cactaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 13 Page 209. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
2. Donald J. Pinkava "Opuntia". in Flora of North America Vol. 4 Page 93, 94, 95, 102, 123, 232, 381. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]

©2004-2012 David Stang. All rights reserved.