Opuntia basilaris |
Cactaceae subfam. opuntioideae |
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beavertail, beavertail cactus, beavertail pricklypear |
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Habit | Shrubs, forming clumps, 1–2(–3) segments tall, to 7–40 cm. | Trees or shrubs, sometimes forming clumps or mats, sometimes geophytes, trailing to erect. | ||||||||||||
Roots | diffuse or tuberlike. |
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Stem(s) | segments not disarticulating, blue- to yellow-green, sometimes tinged maroon-purple, flattened, spatulate to broadly obovate or subcircular, thick, 5–22(–35) × 2–13.5(–16) cm, nearly smooth, papillose to puberulent (rarely glabrous); areoles 4–16(–19) per diagonal row across midstem segment, circular to elliptic, 3–5 × 3 mm; wool white to tan, aging gray. |
segmented throughout or only in ultimate branches, succulent (less noticeably so in some Cylindropuntia), often woody, especially toward base, smooth or tuberculate; areoles cushionlike, circular or nearly so (to linear), usually bearing conspicuous spines and always bearing glochids. |
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Leaves | of brief duration, promptly deciduous, present only during initial growth of stem segments and flowers [persistent], conic or somewhat flattened, succulent. |
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Spines | 0(–8) per areole, when present, usually in distal areoles, spreading, yellow, straight, acicular, 5–25 mm. |
slender to stout (to hairlike), terete to strongly flattened, usually smooth, sometimes barbed or roughened, epidermis intact or partly to wholly separating from body of spine as sheath that hangs onto spine. |
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Glochids | numerous, nearly filling areoles, yellow to red-brown or dark brown, to 3 mm. |
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Flowers | inner tepals pink to magenta throughout (rarely white), 25–40 mm; filaments red-magenta (rarely pale); anthers yellowish; style white to pink; stigma lobes white to cream. |
diurnal (opening late afternoon or night in Cylindropuntia fulgida), bisexual (sometimes functionally staminate or pistillate), solitary in areoles [terminal], radially or bilaterally symmetric (flower curved and/or the ovary flattened), sessile, rotate, cup-shaped, or salverform; flower tube epigynous, short adnate to extension of stem segment surrounding ovary; nectary at base of style, open or sometimes covered by outgrowths of proximal portion of style base or of flower tube wall as specialized nectar chamber. |
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Fruits | maturing tan, 20–40 × 15–23 mm, dry at maturity, puberulent, spineless (except in var. treleasei); umbilicus 5–12 mm deep; areoles 24–76. |
indehiscent, cylindric, ellipsoid, ovoid, or subspheric, sometimes clavate, fleshy, juicy (bleeding), or quickly drying; perianth and contained flower parts shriveling and abscising basally as single unit including floral cup, leaving deep to almost flat scar (umbilicus) atop fruit. |
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Seeds | yellowish to tan, ± subspheric but angular, thick, 6.5–9 × 6.5–7 mm, sides smooth or bearing 1–3 depressions; girdle protruding to 1 mm. |
0 (sterile) or 1–400+, yellowish, tan, gray, or brown, flattened to subspheric, 2–7 mm, each completely enclosed by bony funicular envelope, glabrous or sometimes pubescent, its vascular bundle forming girdle around seed, sometimes enlarged and protruding as ridge or wing. |
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Opuntia basilaris |
Cactaceae subfam. opuntioideae |
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Distribution |
AZ; CA; NV; UT; n Mexico
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Throughout New World from near Arctic Circle to Patagonia [Introduced especially in tropical, subtropical, and warm-temperate regions almost worldwide] |
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Discussion | Varieties 4 (4 in the flora). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Genera 16, species ca. 350 (5 genera, 66 species in the flora). All genera of Opuntioideae in the flora have been combined into the genus Opuntia at various times. Recent research findings in morphology, anatomy, palynology, seed characteristics, host-herbivore relations, and chloroplast and nuclear DNA make untenable the maintenance of the single genus Opuntia. Unlike some genera of subfam. Cactoideae, the segregate genera of Opuntioideae are not known to produce intergeneric hybrids. Identification of the species within subfam. Opuntioideae is difficult, in part because of widespread phenotypic plasticity, interspecific hybridization, polyploidy, and apomixis (clonal seeds and stems), which play important evolutionary roles, particularly in Cylindropuntia and Opuntia. Habit descriptions, color photographs (including close-ups), and meiotic chromosome counts are very helpful in identification of species. Also, good herbarium specimens require at least two or three consecutive stem segments, flowers and/or fruits, and detailed notes on all fresh flower parts and fruits as to color (particularly inner tepals, filaments, fresh stigma lobes, and fruits), shape, and size (because of extensive shrinkage on drying). Spine characters are generally based on well-developed areoles, mostly in distal portions of stem segments. Yellow spines usually turn dark red to black with age, including those on herbarium sheets. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 4, p. 144. | FNA vol. 4, p. 102. | ||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Cactaceae > subfam. Opuntioideae > Opuntia | Cactaceae | ||||||||||||
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Name authority | Engelmann & J. M. Bigelow: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 3: 298. (1856) | Burnett: Outlines Bot. 2: 742, 1130. (1835) | ||||||||||||
Web links |