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Sweet Prickly Pear

Opuntia stricta var. dillenii (Ker Gawl.) L. D. Benson

Comments

provided by eFloras
This species was first recorded in China in 1702.
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cc-by-nc-sa-3.0
copyright
Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63110 USA
bibliographic citation
Flora of China Vol. 13: 210, 211 in eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden. Accessed Nov 12, 2008.
source
Flora of China @ eFloras.org
editor
Wu Zhengyi, Peter H. Raven & Hong Deyuan
project
eFloras.org
original
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eFloras

Description

provided by eFloras
Shrubs sprawling or erect, 1-3 m tall. Trunk absent or short. Larger, terminal joints green to gray-green, obovate or elliptic-obovate to suborbicular, 10-35(-40) × 7.5-20(-25) cm. Areoles 2-9 mm in diam. Spines 1-12(-20) per areole on most areoles, spreading, yellow, ± brown banded or mottled, subulate, straight or curved, 1.2-4(-6) cm, basally flattened; glochids yellow. Leaves subulate, 4.5-6 mm, deciduous. Flowers 5-9 cm in diam. Sepaloids greenish with yellow margin, broadly deltoid-obovate to obovate, 10-25 × 6-12 mm, margin entire or slightly crisped, apex mucronate. Petaloids spreading, bright yellow, obovate or cuneate-obovate, 25-30 × 12-20 mm, margin entire or slightly undulate, apex rounded, truncate, or emarginate. Filaments yellow, ca. 12 mm; anthers yellow, ca. 1.5 mm. Style yellow or yellowish, 12-20 mm; stigmas 5, pale green, ca. 4.5 mm. Fruit purple, turbinate to obovoid, 4-6 × 2.5-3(-4) cm, fleshy at maturity, umbilicus deep. Seeds light tan, irregularly orbicular, 4-5 × 4-4.5 mm. Fl. Jun-Oct(-Dec).
license
cc-by-nc-sa-3.0
copyright
Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63110 USA
bibliographic citation
Flora of China Vol. 13: 210, 211 in eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden. Accessed Nov 12, 2008.
source
Flora of China @ eFloras.org
editor
Wu Zhengyi, Peter H. Raven & Hong Deyuan
project
eFloras.org
original
visit source
partner site
eFloras

Habitat & Distribution

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Thickets, rocks, sandy soils, also cultivated as a hedge; near sea level. S Guangdong, S Guangxi, Hainan [native to the Caribbean region; widely introduced and naturalized in tropical regions].
license
cc-by-nc-sa-3.0
copyright
Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63110 USA
bibliographic citation
Flora of China Vol. 13: 210, 211 in eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden. Accessed Nov 12, 2008.
source
Flora of China @ eFloras.org
editor
Wu Zhengyi, Peter H. Raven & Hong Deyuan
project
eFloras.org
original
visit source
partner site
eFloras

Synonym

provided by eFloras
Cactus dillenii Ker Gawler, Bot. Reg. 3: t. 255. 1818; Opuntia stricta (Haworth) Haworth var. dillenii (Ker Gawler) L. Benson.
license
cc-by-nc-sa-3.0
copyright
Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63110 USA
bibliographic citation
Flora of China Vol. 13: 210, 211 in eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden. Accessed Nov 12, 2008.
source
Flora of China @ eFloras.org
editor
Wu Zhengyi, Peter H. Raven & Hong Deyuan
project
eFloras.org
original
visit source
partner site
eFloras

Cuban Cactus Scrub Flora Associations

provided by EOL authors
Lying in the rainshadow of upwind mountains, the Cuban Cactus Scrub ecoregion is a semi-arid region of the Caribbean Basin supporting a thorny cactus scrub. The most characteristic and abundant flora species correspond to the xeromorphous coastal and subcoastal scrubland with abundant cacti succulents, also called coastal manigua. Cactus associate species to Opuntia dillenii include: O. triacantha, Harrisia eriophora, H. taetra, Pilosocereus robinii and Dendrocereus nudiflorus. Evergreen shrubs and small trees include: Bourreria virgata, Capparis cynophallophora, Eugenia buxifolia, Bursera glauca and B. cubana.
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cc-by-nc
copyright
C.Michael Hogan
bibliographic citation
C.Michael Hogan. 2011. Cactus. Topic ed. Arthur Dawson. Ed.-in-chief Cutler J.Cleveland. Encyclopedia of Earth. National Council for Science and the Environment. Washington DC
author
C. Michael Hogan (cmichaelhogan)
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EOL authors