Opuntia macrorhiza

Last updated

Opuntia macrorhiza
Opuntia macrorhiza.jpg
Status TNC G5.svg
Secure  (NatureServe) [2]
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Cactaceae
Genus: Opuntia
Species:
O. macrorhiza
Binomial name
Opuntia macrorhiza
Engelm. [3]
Synonyms [3]
  • ?Cactus tuberculatusWilld.
  • Opuntia compressa var. macrorhiza(Engelm.) L.D.Benson
  • Opuntia grandiflora(Engelm.) Small
  • Opuntia grandifloraEngelm.
  • Opuntia mesacantha var. grandifloraEngelm.
  • Opuntia mesacantha var. greeniiJ.M.Coult.
  • Opuntia mesacantha var. macrorhiza(Engelm.) J.M.Coult.
  • Opuntia mesacantha var. stenochila(Engelm. & J.M.Bigelow) J.M.Coult.
  • Opuntia rafinesquei var. grandifloraEngelm.
  • Opuntia roseanaMackensen
  • Opuntia seguinaC.Z.Nelson
  • Opuntia stenochilaEngelm. & J.M.Bigelow
  • ?Opuntia tuberculata(Willd.) Haw.
  • Opuntia xanthoglochiaGriffiths

Opuntia macrorhiza is a common and widespread species of cactus with the common names plains pricklypear or prairie pricklypear or western pricklypear. It is found throughout the Great Plains of the United States, from Texas to Minnesota, and west into the Rocky Mountain states to New Mexico, Utah, and perhaps Idaho, with sporadic populations in the Mississippi and Ohio Valleys. [4] It is also reported from northern Mexico in the states of Chihuahua, Sonora, Coahuila, Nuevo León, Durango, Tamaulipas, and San Luís Potosí. [5] [6] [7] , though all Arizona and Mexican records should be considered with caution due to confusion with other similar species. The species is cultivated as an ornamental in other locations.

Contents

The species prefers well-drained, sandy or gravelly soils, mostly in grassland areas. It is one of the shorter species of the genus, rarely over 30 cm (1 foot) tall, spreading horizontally and forming wide clumps. Flowers are showy and bright yellow, often with red markings near the base of the petals. Fruits are narrow, red, juicy and edible. [8]

Subdivisions

Some subspecies and varieties have proposed within the species. None are accepted by Plants of the World Online as of October 2022, [3] which treats Opuntia macrorhiza subsp. pottsii(Salm-Dyck) U.Guzmán & Mandujano and Opuntia macrorhiza var. pottsii(Salm-Dyck) L.D.Benson as the separate species Opuntia pottsii . [9]

Related Research Articles

<i>Echinocactus</i> Genus of cacti

Echinocactus is a genus of cacti in the subfamily Cactoideae. The generic name derives from the Ancient Greek ἐχῖνος (echînos), meaning "spiny," and cactus. It and Ferocactus are the two genera of barrel cactus. Members of the genus usually have heavy spination and relatively small flowers. The fruits are copiously woolly, and this is one major distinction between Echinocactus and Ferocactus. Propagation is by seed.

<i>Cupressus arizonica</i> Species of conifer

Cupressus arizonica, the Arizona cypress, is a North American species of tree in the cypress family Cupressaceae, native to the southwestern United States and Mexico. Populations may be scattered rather than in large, dense stands.

<i>Quercus gambelii</i> Species of oak tree

Quercus gambelii, with the common name Gambel oak, is a deciduous small tree or large shrub that is widespread in the foothills and lower mountains of western North America. It is also regionally called scrub oak, oak brush, and white oak.

<i>Selenicereus</i> Genus of cacti

Selenicereus, sometimes known as moonlight cactus, is a genus of epiphytic, lithophytic, and terrestrial cacti, found in Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and northern South America. The term night-blooming cereus is also sometimes used, but this is also used for many night-blooming cacti, including Epiphyllum and Peniocereus. In 2017, the genus Hylocereus was brought into synonymy with Selenicereus. A number of species of Selenicereus produce fruit that is eaten. The fruit, known as pitaya or pitahaya in Spanish or as dragon fruit, may be collected from the wild or the plants may be cultivated.

<i>Opuntia engelmannii</i> Species of cactus

Opuntia engelmannii is a prickly pear common across the south-central and Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. It goes by a variety of common names, including desert prickly pear, discus prickly pear, Engelmann's prickly pear in the US, and nopal, abrojo, joconostle, and vela de coyote in Mexico.

<i>Opuntia galapageia</i> Species of cactus

Opuntia galapageia is a species of cactus. It is endemic to the Galápagos Islands, part of Ecuador. Forms occurring on different islands have been treated as separate species and subtaxa of these species. Opuntia echios, Opuntia helleri, Opuntia insularis, Opuntia megasperma, Opuntia myriacantha and Opuntia saxicola are now sunk within O. galapageia.

<i>Quercus toumeyi</i> Species of tree

Quercus toumeyi, the Toumey oak, is a North American species of tree in the beech family. It is found in northwestern Mexico and the southwestern United States. It grows in Sonora, Chihuahua, Arizona, New Mexico, and the extreme westernmost tip of Texas.

<i>Agave salmiana</i> Species of flowering plant

Agave salmiana is a species of the family Asparagaceae, native to central and southern Mexico. It is also reportedly naturalized in South Africa, Italy and Spain, specially in the Canary Islands.

<i>Opuntia basilaris</i> Species of cactus

Opuntia basilaris, the beavertail cactus or beavertail pricklypear, is a cactus species found in the southwest United States. It occurs mostly in the Mojave, Anza-Borrego, and Colorado Deserts, as well as in the Colorado Plateau and northwest Mexico. It is also found throughout the Grand Canyon and Colorado River region as well as into southern Utah and Nevada, and in the western Arizona regions along the Lower Colorado River Valley.

<i>Tradescantia occidentalis</i> Species of flowering plant

Tradescantia occidentalis, the prairie spiderwort or western spiderwort, is a plant in the dayflower family, Commelinaceae. It is common and widespread across the western Great Plains of the United States, as well as in Arizona, New Mexico, southern Utah, and Sonora, but is listed as a threatened species in Canada.

<i>Opuntia</i> Genus of cactus

Opuntia, commonly called the prickly pear cactus, is a genus of flowering plants in the cactus family Cactaceae, many known for their flavorful fruit and showy flowers. Prickly pear alone is more commonly used to refer exclusively to the fruit, but may also be used for the plant itself; in addition, other names given to the plant and its specific parts include tuna (fruit), sabra, sabbar, nopal from the Nahuatl word nōpalli, nostle (fruit) from the Nahuatl word nōchtli, and paddle cactus. The genus is named for the Ancient Greek city of Opus, where, according to Theophrastus, an edible plant grew and could be propagated by rooting its leaves. The most common culinary species is the Indian fig opuntia (O. ficus-indica).

<i>Quercus pungens</i> Species of oak tree

Quercus pungens, commonly known as the sandpaper oak or scrub oak, is a North American species evergreen or sub-evergreen shrub or small tree in the white oak group. There is one recognised variety, Quercus pungens var. vaseyana, the Vasey shin oak. Sandpaper oak hybridizes with gray oak in the Guadalupe Mountains of New Mexico and Texas.

<i>Amoreuxia gonzalezii</i> Species of flowering plant

Amoreuxia gonzalezii is a rare species of flowering plant in the Bixaceae known by the common names Santa Rita mountain yellowshow, Santa Rita throwup weed, saiya and temaqui. It is native to Sonora in Mexico, its distribution extending just above the border into Arizona in the United States, where it occurs in the Santa Rita Mountains of Pima and Santa Cruz Counties. It has also been found in the States of Sinaloa and Jalisco to the south. It is also present in the Sierra de la Laguna of Baja California Sur.

<i>Opuntia polyacantha</i> Species of cactus

Opuntia polyacantha is a common species of cactus known by the common names plains pricklypear, starvation pricklypear,. and hairspine cactus, panhandle pricklypear. The Nature Conservancy. Retrieved May 11, 2011.</ref> It is native to North America, where it is widespread in Western Canada, the Great Plains, the central and Western United States, and Chihuahua in northern Mexico. In 2018, a disjunct population was discovered in the Thousand Islands region of Ontario, Canada.

Opuntia pottsii is a species of flowering plant in the family Cactaceae, native to Arizona, New Mexico and Texas in the United States and to northeast Mexico. It was first described by Joseph zu Salm-Reifferscheidt-Dyck in 1850.

<i>Opuntia elata</i> Species of cactus

Opuntia elata is a species of cactus found in Bolivia, Paraguay, southern Brazil, northern Argentina, and Uruguay.

<i>Kimnachia</i> Genus of cacti

Kimnachia is a monotypic genus of cacti. Its only species is Kimnachia ramulosa, synonym Pseudorhipsalis ramulosa, which is native from southern Mexico to northern South America and also found in Jamaica.

<i>Echinocereus scheeri</i> Species of plant in the genus Echinocereus

Echinocereus scheeri is a species of hedgehog cactus in the family Cactaceae, native to northern Mexico. With its dramatic offsets, it has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

<i>Opuntia setispina</i> Species of cactus

Opuntia setispina is a species of cactus found in the Sierra Madre Occidental in Chihuahua, Sonora, and Durango in Mexico. The name O. setispina has been listed as a synonym under Opuntia macrorhiza and Opuntia pottsii, but shows no close relationship to either species. It is more of a woody shrubby, often somewhat tree-like species, growing up to approximately 1 meter tall and wide. It is morphologically similar to Opuntia chlorotica, Opuntia santa-rita, and Opuntia gosseliniana.

Opuntia dejecta is a species of plant in the cactus family. They are listed in cites appendix ii. Flowers are visited by the broad-billed hummingbird.

References

  1. Heil, K., Terry, M. & Corral-Díaz, R. 2017. Opuntia macrorhiza (amended version of 2013 assessment). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2017: e.T152371A121590513. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
  2. NatureServe (2024). "Opuntia macrorhiza". Arlington, Virginia. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  3. 1 2 3 "Opuntia macrorhiza Engelm". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 2022-10-17.
  4. United States Department of Agriculture Plants Profile
  5. Encyclopedia of Life
  6. Biota of North America Program, 2014 county distribution map
  7. SEINet, Southwestern Biodiversity, Arizona chapter photos, description, distribution map
  8. Flora of North America, Opuntia macrorhiza Engelmann, 1850. Western pricklypear
  9. "Opuntia pottsii Salm-Dyck", Plants of the World Online , Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew , retrieved 2022-10-18