Opuntia basilaris |
Opuntia triacantha |
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beavertail, beavertail cactus, beavertail pricklypear |
Spanish lady |
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Habit | Shrubs, forming clumps, 1–2(–3) segments tall, to 7–40 cm. | Shrubs, prostrate (to erect), clambering, to 0.6 m. Stem segments easily detached, green, flattened, elliptic, 5–18 × 3–7 cm, slightly tuberculate, glabrous; areoles 3–4 per diagonal row across midstem segment, subcircular, 4 mm diam.; wool whitish. | ||||||||||||
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. |
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Spines | 0(–8) per areole, when present, usually in distal areoles, spreading, yellow, straight, acicular, 5–25 mm. |
1–3(–4) per areole, ± evenly distributed on stem segment, porrect to spreading, gray to whitish or cream, tipped black, straight, acicular, to 40 mm, barbed. |
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Glochids | numerous, nearly filling areoles, yellow to red-brown or dark brown, to 3 mm. |
yellow, aging brown, 4–9 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. |
inner tepals yellow throughout, 20–25 mm; filaments pale green to yellow; anthers yellow; style pale green or white, pink tinged; stigma lobes color unknown. |
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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. |
red, ovoid to obovoid, 25–30 × 15–20 mm, fleshy, glabrous, bearing few areoles, 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. |
tan, subcircular, somewhat flattened, 2.5 mm diam.; girdle protruding less than 1 mm. |
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2n | = 22. |
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Opuntia basilaris |
Opuntia triacantha |
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Phenology | Flowering year-round. | |||||||||||||
Habitat | Sandy areas on old limestone reefs, openings in tropical forests | |||||||||||||
Elevation | 0 m (0 ft) | |||||||||||||
Distribution |
AZ; CA; NV; UT; n Mexico
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FL; West Indies |
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Discussion | Varieties 4 (4 in the flora). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Opuntia triacantha occurs in the flora area only on Big Pine Key, Florida. It is in the Center for Plant Conservation’s National Collection of Endangered Plants. (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. 130. | ||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Cactaceae > subfam. Opuntioideae > Opuntia | Cactaceae > subfam. Opuntioideae > Opuntia | ||||||||||||
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Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||||||
Synonyms | Cactus triacanthos, O. abjecta, O. militaris | |||||||||||||
Name authority | Engelmann & J. M. Bigelow: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 3: 298. (1856) | (Willdenow) Sweet: Hort. Brit., 172. (1826) | ||||||||||||
Web links |