Opuntia basilaris |
Opuntia basilaris var. basilaris |
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beavertail, beavertail cactus, beavertail pricklypear |
beavertail, beavertail cactus, beavertail pricklypear |
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Habit | Shrubs, forming clumps, 1–2(–3) segments tall, to 7–40 cm. | |||||||||||||
Stem | 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. |
segments erect, flattened, obovate, 7–22(–35) × 6.5–13.5(–16) cm; areoles (8–)10–16(–19) per diagonal row across midstem segment, circular. |
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Spines | 0(–8) per areole, when present, usually in distal areoles, spreading, yellow, straight, acicular, 5–25 mm. |
absent or very rarely 1–few very short spines per stem segment. |
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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. |
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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. |
spineless. |
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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. |
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2n | = 22. |
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Opuntia basilaris |
Opuntia basilaris var. basilaris |
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Phenology | Flowering late winter–spring (Feb–Jun). | |||||||||||||
Habitat | Chaparral, woodlands, desert flats, hills, sandy to rocky soils | |||||||||||||
Elevation | 300-1700 m (1000-5600 ft) | |||||||||||||
Distribution |
AZ; CA; NV; UT; n Mexico
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AZ; CA; NV; UT; n Mexico |
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Discussion | Varieties 4 (4 in the flora). (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. 144. | ||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Cactaceae > subfam. Opuntioideae > Opuntia | Cactaceae > subfam. Opuntioideae > Opuntia > Opuntia basilaris | ||||||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||||||
Synonyms | O. basilaris var. ramosa, O. whitneyana | |||||||||||||
Name authority | Engelmann & J. M. Bigelow: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 3: 298. (1856) | unknown | ||||||||||||
Web links |