Opuntia littoralis |
Opuntia santa-rita |
|
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coastal prickly pear, prickly pear |
purple pricklypear, Santa Rita pricklypear |
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Habit | Shrubs, spreading to sprawling, forming large clumps, to 1 × 1–9 m. | Shrubs or trees, with short trunk, erect, to 2 m. |
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 easily detached, green or, when under stress, lavender to red-purple at least around areoles, flattened, subcircular, sometimes ovate or obovate sometimes wider than long, 10–20 × 9.5–20 cm, thin, nearly smooth, glabrous; areoles 6–8(–9) per diagonal row across midstem segment, obovate or elliptic to subcircular, sometimes reniform, 3–3.5 × 2–2.5 mm; wool tan to brown. |
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. |
0–1(–2) per areole, usually few along margins of stem segments, deflexed to erect, pale yellow to horn colored (aging reddish brown), straight to slightly curved, acicular, terete, the longest to 40 mm, usually shorter. |
Glochids | moderately dense in crescent at adaxial edge of areole, merging with subapical tuft when present, yellow to red-brown, to 5 mm. |
dense in crescent at adaxial edge of areole, nearly encircling areoles, and in subapical tuft, of even height, yellow to tan, aging brown, to 5 mm. |
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 yellow throughout, fading orangish, 25–45 mm; filaments pale yellow throughout or pale yellow proximally, white distally; anthers pale yellow; style white; stigma lobes light green. |
Fruits | dark red-purple throughout, obovoid, 35–50 × 30–35 mm, juicy, glabrous, spineless; areoles 22–36. |
purplish, green inside, obovoid to barrel-shaped, 25–45 × 20–30 mm, fleshy, glabrous, spineless; areoles 34–44(–54). |
Seeds | gray, subcircular, warped, 3–4.5 mm diam.; girdle protruding 0.5 mm. |
tan, 3.5–5 × 3–4 mm, sides convex, often bearing bumps; girdle protruding 0.5 mm. |
2n | = 66. |
= 22. |
Opuntia littoralis |
Opuntia santa-rita |
|
Phenology | Flowering spring (Apr–May). | Flowering spring (Apr-early Jun). |
Habitat | Coastal sage scrub, chaparral | Deserts, grasslands, oak woodlands, flats, slopes, sandy to rocky soils |
Elevation | 10-400 m (0-1300 ft) | 700-1600 m (2300-5200 ft) |
Distribution |
Calif (including Channel Islands); Mexico (Baja California)
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AZ; Mexico (Sonora)
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Discussion | Opuntia santa-rita has been reported for New Mexico and Texas, but I have seen no supporting specimens. Opuntia santa-rita is commonly confused with spineless O. macrocentra, but has yellow inner tepals with red basal portions. In southern Arizona, O. santa-rita hybridizes with O. chlorotica; that hybrid, with a chromosome number of 2n = 22, apparently accounts for L. D. Benson’s (1982) inclusion in the United States of Mexico’s O. gosseliniana F. A. C. Weber. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
|
Source | FNA vol. 4. | FNA vol. 4. |
Parent taxa | Cactaceae > subfam. Opuntioideae > Opuntia | Cactaceae > subfam. Opuntioideae > Opuntia |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | O. engelmannii var. littoralis, O. lindheimeri var. littoralis, O. occidentalis var. littoralis, O. semispinosa | O. chlorotica var. santa-rita, O. violacea var. santa-rita |
Name authority | (Engelmann) Cockerell: Bull. S. Calif. Acad. Sci. 4: 15. (1905) | (Griffiths & Hare) Rose: Smithsonian Misc. Collect. 52: 195. (1909) |
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