Opuntia polyacantha |
Opuntia littoralis |
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hair-spine prickly pear, panhandle prickly pear, plains prickly pear, starvation prickly-pear |
coastal prickly pear, prickly pear |
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Habit | Shrubs, low, 10–25 cm, with ± prostrate branches. | Shrubs, spreading to sprawling, forming large clumps, to 1 × 1–9 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. | ||||||||||||||||
Stem | segments not easily detached, green, elliptic to narrowly to broadly obovate to circular, 4–27 × 2–18 cm, low tuberculate; areoles 4–14 per diagonal row across midstem segment, subcircular, 3–6 mm; wool tan to brown. |
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Spines | at all or only distal areoles of stem segment, terete to flattened, stout to acicular to bristlelike, straight to curling, of 1 or 2 kinds; if 1 kind: 0–18 per areole, spreading and curling in various directions, sometimes straight, erect, ascending to deflexed, yellow to dark brown to black, turning gray, pink-gray to gray-brown, longest (35–)40–90(–185) mm; if ± 2 kinds: major spines (0–)1–5, reflexed to porrect, yellow-brown to brown to gray, longest 20–150 mm; minor spines (0–)5–11, deflexed, white to white-gray, longest 4–16 mm. |
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. |
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Glochids | inconspicuous, in narrow, tidy crescent at adaxial edge of areole or in broad, brushy crescent and tuft, yellow to reddish, aging brown, to 10 mm. |
moderately dense in crescent at adaxial edge of areole, merging with subapical tuft when present, yellow to red-brown, to 5 mm. |
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Flowers | inner tepals yellow to magenta throughout, 25–40 mm; filaments white, yellow, or red to magenta (flowers may superficially appear bicolored); anthers yellow; style white to pale pink; stigma lobes green. |
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. |
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Fruits | tan to brown, ± cylindric, 15–45 × 12–25 mm, dry at maturity, glabrous, sometimes burlike; areoles 10–33, each or only distal areoles bearing 3–16 spines, 4–20 mm. |
dark red-purple throughout, obovoid, 35–50 × 30–35 mm, juicy, glabrous, spineless; areoles 22–36. |
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Seeds | tan to gray, flattened, warped, oblong to subcircular, 3–7 × 2–4 mm; girdle protruding 1–2 mm. |
gray, subcircular, warped, 3–4.5 mm diam.; girdle protruding 0.5 mm. |
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2n | = 66. |
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Opuntia polyacantha |
Opuntia littoralis |
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Phenology | Flowering spring (Apr–May). | |||||||||||||||||
Habitat | Coastal sage scrub, chaparral | |||||||||||||||||
Elevation | 10-400 m (0-1300 ft) | |||||||||||||||||
Distribution |
AZ; CA; CO; ID; KS; MT; ND; NE; NM; NV; OK; SD; TX; UT; WY; AB; SK; n Mexico
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Calif (including Channel Islands); Mexico (Baja California)
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Discussion | Varieties 5 (5 in the flora). Populations of Opuntia polyacantha with spines few or absent (especially var. hystricina) were the basis for several names including O. juniperina, O. utahensis, and O. rhodantha. (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. | ||||||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Cactaceae > subfam. Opuntioideae > Opuntia | Cactaceae > subfam. Opuntioideae > Opuntia | ||||||||||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||||||||||
Synonyms | Cactus ferox, Tunas polyacantha | O. engelmannii var. littoralis, O. lindheimeri var. littoralis, O. occidentalis var. littoralis, O. semispinosa | ||||||||||||||||
Name authority | Haworth: Suppl. Pl. Succ., 82. (1819) | (Engelmann) Cockerell: Bull. S. Calif. Acad. Sci. 4: 15. (1905) | ||||||||||||||||
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