Opuntia polyacantha |
Opuntia strigil |
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hair-spine prickly pear, panhandle prickly pear, plains prickly pear, starvation prickly-pear |
marblefruit pricklypear |
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Habit | Shrubs, low, 10–25 cm, with ± prostrate branches. | 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 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. |
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 | 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. |
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 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 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 | 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. |
red, subspheric, 15–28 × 12–23 mm, fleshy, glabrous, spineless; umbilicus 4–5 mm deep; areoles 24–36. |
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Seeds | tan to gray, flattened, warped, oblong to subcircular, 3–7 × 2–4 mm; girdle protruding 1–2 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 polyacantha |
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 |
AZ; CA; CO; ID; KS; MT; ND; NE; NM; NV; OK; SD; TX; UT; WY; AB; SK; n Mexico
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TX |
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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.) |
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. | FNA vol. 4, p. 134. | ||||||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Cactaceae > subfam. Opuntioideae > Opuntia | Cactaceae > subfam. Opuntioideae > Opuntia | ||||||||||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||||||||||
Synonyms | Cactus ferox, Tunas polyacantha | |||||||||||||||||
Name authority | Haworth: Suppl. Pl. Succ., 82. (1819) | Engelmann: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 3: 290. (1856) | ||||||||||||||||
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