Opuntia polyacantha |
Opuntia polyacantha var. arenaria |
|||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
hair-spine prickly pear, panhandle prickly pear, plains prickly pear, starvation prickly-pear |
El Paso pricklypear, sand pricklypear |
|||||||||||||||||
Habit | Shrubs, low, 10–25 cm, with ± prostrate branches. | |||||||||||||||||
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. |
segments narrowly obovate, 4–7 × 2–3(–5) cm; areoles 4–6 per diagonal row across midstem segment, 8–11 mm apart. |
||||||||||||||||
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. |
in most areoles, of 2 kinds: major spines 1–3 per areole, only in distal 3–9 areoles, reflexed to porrect, brown, longest 20–40 mm; minor spines 5–7 per areole, strongly deflexed, white, 4–7 mm, except middle one to 14 mm. |
||||||||||||||||
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. |
|||||||||||||||||
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. |
|||||||||||||||||
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. |
slender; areoles 10–14, bearing 3–6 spines, to 8 mm. |
||||||||||||||||
Seeds | tan to gray, flattened, warped, oblong to subcircular, 3–7 × 2–4 mm; girdle protruding 1–2 mm. |
|||||||||||||||||
2n | = 22. |
|||||||||||||||||
Opuntia polyacantha |
Opuntia polyacantha var. arenaria |
|||||||||||||||||
Phenology | Flowering late spring. | |||||||||||||||||
Habitat | Sandy barren areas, small dunes | |||||||||||||||||
Elevation | 1000-1300 m (3300-4300 ft) | |||||||||||||||||
Distribution |
AZ; CA; CO; ID; KS; MT; ND; NE; NM; NV; OK; SD; TX; UT; WY; AB; SK; n Mexico
|
NM; TX; Mexico (Chihuahua) |
||||||||||||||||
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.) |
Of conservation concern. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
||||||||||||||||
Key |
|
|||||||||||||||||
Source | FNA vol. 4. | FNA vol. 4, p. 147. | ||||||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Cactaceae > subfam. Opuntioideae > Opuntia | Cactaceae > subfam. Opuntioideae > Opuntia > Opuntia polyacantha | ||||||||||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||||||||||
Synonyms | Cactus ferox, Tunas polyacantha | O. arenaria | ||||||||||||||||
Name authority | Haworth: Suppl. Pl. Succ., 82. (1819) | (Engelmann) B. D. Parfitt: Cact. Succ. J. (Los Angeles) 70: 188. (1998) | ||||||||||||||||
Web links |
|