Opuntia humifusa |
Opuntia strigil |
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devil's-tongue, eastern prickly-pear |
marblefruit pricklypear |
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Habit | Shrubs, forming clumps or often prostrate, usually only 1 or 2 stem segments tall, to 0.5 m (except in Florida where they may be erect and reach to 2+ m with short trunk), flattened to obovoid, sometimes from tuberlike rootstocks. | Shrubs, erect to sprawling, to 1 m. Stem segments not easily detached, green, flattened, obovate to circular, 10–17 × 8.5–14.5 cm, nearly smooth, glabrous; areoles 7–10 per diagonal row across midstem segment, oblong to elliptic, 3–5 × 2.5–3.5 mm; wool yellow-brown to brown, aging gray. | ||||
Stem | segments not disarticulating, dark or bright shiny green, wrinkling when stressed, circular to broadly oblong to obovate, 5–17.5 × 4–12 cm, fleshy, usually tuberculate, glabrous; areoles 4–6 per diagonal row across midstem segment, oval to circular, 2–4 mm diam., not raised, sometimes somewhat sunken; wool tan to brown. |
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Spines | often absent or 1–2(–3) per areole, spreading, whitish to brownish, terete, straight, and usually stout, 25–60 mm; occasionally also 1 deflexed spine present. |
5–8(–10) per areole, best developed in distal areoles, usually reflexed, spreading or some erect in marginal areoles, red-brown (often with darker annular rings) with yellow tips, aging blackish, straight or weakly curved, not or slightly flattened near bases; central spines 1(–2), much longer and stouter, ± acicular, 10–40 mm. |
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Glochids | in dense crescent of adaxial edge of areole and in dense tuft overtopping crescent in age, yellow to red-brown, to 4 mm. |
crowded in crescent at adaxial edge of areole and subapical tuft, radiating and well developed in old stem segments, yellow, to 3 mm. |
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Flowers | inner tepals pale to bright yellow throughout, 20–30 mm diam.; filaments yellow to orange; anthers pale yellow to cream; style and stigma lobes white. |
inner tepals cream to lemon yellow, orangish abaxially on midvein areas, broadly spatulate-apiculate, 20–30 mm; filaments cream-yellow; anthers pale yellow; style pale cream; stigma lobes pale greenish yellow. |
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Fruits | greenish, tardily becoming apricot to brownish red, elongate, 30–50 × 12–20 mm, fleshy, tapering at base; pulp green and sour, becoming reddish and sweet under ideal conditions; areoles 10–18. |
red, subspheric, 15–28 × 12–23 mm, fleshy, glabrous, spineless; umbilicus 4–5 mm deep; areoles 24–36. |
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Seeds | tan, 3.5–4.5 mm diam., thickish; girdle protruding to 1 mm. |
tan, subcircular to reniform, flattened, warped, 3–4 × 2.7–3.5 mm, 2 mm thick; girdle protruding 0.5–0.8 mm. |
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2n | = 22, 44. |
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Opuntia humifusa |
Opuntia strigil |
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Phenology | Flowering spring (Apr–May). | |||||
Habitat | Desert scrub, limestone hills and plains | |||||
Elevation | 900-1400 m (3000-4600 ft) | |||||
Distribution |
AL; AR; CT; DE; FL; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; MI; MN; MO; MS; NC; NE; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; TX; VA; WI; WV; ON
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TX |
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Discussion | Varieties 2 (2 in the flora). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Opuntia strigil is reminiscent of a brown-spined form of O. chlorotica. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 4, p. 130. | FNA vol. 4, p. 134. | ||||
Parent taxa | Cactaceae > subfam. Opuntioideae > Opuntia | Cactaceae > subfam. Opuntioideae > Opuntia | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | Cactus humifusus | |||||
Name authority | (Rafinesque) Rafinesque: Med. Fl. 2: 247. (1830) | Engelmann: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 3: 290. (1856) | ||||
Web links |
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