Opuntia littoralis |
Opuntia basilaris |
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coastal prickly pear, prickly pear |
beavertail, beavertail cactus, beavertail pricklypear |
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Habit | Shrubs, spreading to sprawling, forming large clumps, to 1 × 1–9 m. | Shrubs, forming clumps, 1–2(–3) segments tall, to 7–40 cm. | ||||||||||||
Stem | segments not disarticulating, green, flattened, elliptic to obovate to rhombic, 15–25(–40) × 6.5–14 cm, ± tuberculate, glabrous, usually glaucous; areoles 5–7(–8) per diagonal row across midstem segment, prominent, subcircular(-oval), 4–6 × 4–5 mm, enlarging in age; wool gray. |
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 | 4–11 per areole, in most areoles, yellow with chalky white coat, to yellow with red-brown basal portions, aging reddish gray; erect ones terete, stout, straight; abaxial ones reflexed, shorter, to 12 mm; adaxial spines spreading, longest spines 20–40 mm. |
0(–8) per areole, when present, usually in distal areoles, spreading, yellow, straight, acicular, 5–25 mm. |
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Glochids | moderately dense in crescent at adaxial edge of areole, merging with subapical tuft when present, yellow to red-brown, to 5 mm. |
numerous, nearly filling areoles, yellow to red-brown or dark brown, to 3 mm. |
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Flowers | inner tepals yellow to dull red throughout, 35–45 mm; filaments yellow to orange-yellow; anthers yellow; style pink to red; stigma lobes yellow-green to green. |
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 | dark red-purple throughout, obovoid, 35–50 × 30–35 mm, juicy, glabrous, spineless; areoles 22–36. |
maturing tan, 20–40 × 15–23 mm, dry at maturity, puberulent, spineless (except in var. treleasei); umbilicus 5–12 mm deep; areoles 24–76. |
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Seeds | gray, subcircular, warped, 3–4.5 mm diam.; girdle protruding 0.5 mm. |
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 | = 66. |
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Opuntia littoralis |
Opuntia basilaris |
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Phenology | Flowering spring (Apr–May). | |||||||||||||
Habitat | Coastal sage scrub, chaparral | |||||||||||||
Elevation | 10-400 m (0-1300 ft) | |||||||||||||
Distribution |
Calif (including Channel Islands); Mexico (Baja California)
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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. | FNA vol. 4, p. 144. | ||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Cactaceae > subfam. Opuntioideae > Opuntia | Cactaceae > subfam. Opuntioideae > Opuntia | ||||||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||||||
Synonyms | O. engelmannii var. littoralis, O. lindheimeri var. littoralis, O. occidentalis var. littoralis, O. semispinosa | |||||||||||||
Name authority | (Engelmann) Cockerell: Bull. S. Calif. Acad. Sci. 4: 15. (1905) | Engelmann & J. M. Bigelow: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 3: 298. (1856) | ||||||||||||
Web links |