Opuntia oricola

Philbrick

Cac t. Succ. J. (Los Angeles) 36: 163, 3 figs. 1964.

Treatment appears in FNA Volume 4. Treatment on page 140. Mentioned on page 128, 141.

Trees or shrubs, spreading, 2–3 m; trunk, when present, to 30 cm. Stem segments not disarticulating, dark green, flattened, subcircular to broadly obovate, 16–25 × 16–19 cm, nearly smooth, glabrous; areoles 8–10 per diagonal across midstem segment, prominent, subcircular, 4.5–5.5 mm, greatly enlarging to 10 mm diam.; wool tan to gray. Spines 5–13 per areole, in most areoles, usually reflexed, translucent yellow, aging redbrown, angular, curved, subulate, the longest 20–25 (–50) mm. Glochids in rather dense crescent along adaxial margins, increasing in length toward base, subapical tuft poorly developed, tan, aging brown, to 6 mm. Flowers: inner tepals yellow throughout, 25–40 mm; filaments yellow to orange-yellow; anthers yellow; style red; stigma lobes green or light green. Fruits red to red-purple, pale-yellow inside, with seed pulp red, subspheric to barrel-shaped, 37–60 × 30–45 mm, juicy, glabrous, spineless; areoles 23–63. Seeds gray-brown, subcircular to semicircular, 3.5–4 mm diam.; girdle protruding to 0.4 mm. 2n = 33 (an abnormal, polyhaploid individual), 66.


Phenology: Flowering spring (May).
Habitat: Coastal sage scrub, coastal chaparral
Elevation: 0-500 m

Distribution

V4 265-distribution-map.gif

Calif. (including Channel Islands), Mexico (Baja California)

Discussion

Opuntia demissa Griffiths is apparently a hybrid between O. oricola and an unknown taxon (B. D. Parfitt and M. A. Baker 1993), likely to be O. littoralis. The hybrid appears to be rather widespread and blurs distinctions between the putative parents.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.

"enlarging" is not a number.

... more about "Opuntia oricola"
cushionlike +
0.8 cm8 mm <br />0.008 m <br /> (1 cm10 mm <br />0.01 m <br />) +
0.7 cm7 mm <br />0.007 m <br /> (1 cm10 mm <br />0.01 m <br />) +
deciduous +  and persistent +
0.3 cm3 mm <br />0.003 m <br /> (0.8 cm8 mm <br />0.008 m <br />) +
23 +  and 63 +
subcircular +
0.45 cm4.5 mm <br />0.0045 m <br /> (0.55 cm5.5 mm <br />0.0055 m <br />) +
0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br /> (0.7 cm7 mm <br />0.007 m <br />) +
Donald J. Pinkava +
Philbrick +
proliferating +
flattened +  and cylindric +
Calif. (including Channel Islands) +  and Mexico (Baja California) +
0-500 m +
yellow +  and orange-yellow +
salverform +, cup-shaped +  and rotate +
15 cm150 mm <br />0.15 m <br /> (30 cm300 mm <br />0.3 m <br />) +
0.2 cm2 mm <br />0.002 m <br /> (15 cm150 mm <br />0.15 m <br />) +
burlike +  and spiny +
pale-yellow;red;red-purple +
straight +
indehiscent +
persistent +, long +  and deciduous +
3.7 cm37 mm <br />0.037 m <br /> (6 cm60 mm <br />0.06 m <br />) +
proliferating +
tuberculate +  and smooth +
subspheric +  and barrel-shaped +
3 cm30 mm <br />0.03 m <br /> (4.5 cm45 mm <br />0.045 m <br />) +
0.03 cm0.3 mm <br />3.0e-4 m <br /> (0.35 cm3.5 mm <br />0.0035 m <br />) +
foveolate +  and reticulate +
Coastal sage scrub, coastal chaparral +
oblong +  and spatulate +
2.5 cm25 mm <br />0.025 m <br /> (4 cm40 mm <br />0.04 m <br />) +
deciduous +
flattened +  and conic +
0 cm0 mm <br />0 m <br /> (3 cm30 mm <br />0.03 m <br />) +
succulent +
tuberculate +
fluted;spheric;depressed-spheric or club-shaped +
tinged color +
open +  and simple +
sometimes covered by outgrowths of proximal portion of style base or of flower tube wall +  and open +
persistent +  and deciduous +
Flowering spring (May). +
ridgelike +  and nipple--shaped +
Cac t. Succ. J. (Los Angeles) +
3;2;2;30 +
tuberlike +
gray-brown +
3.5mm;4mm +
0.2 cm2 mm <br />0.002 m <br /> (0.7 cm7 mm <br />0.007 m <br />) +
subcircular;semicircular +
0.2 cm2 mm <br />0.002 m <br /> (0.7 cm7 mm <br />0.007 m <br />) +
0.2 cm2 mm <br />0.002 m <br /> (0.7 cm7 mm <br />0.007 m <br />) +
not sheathed +
2.5 cm25 mm <br />0.025 m <br /> (5 cm50 mm <br />0.05 m <br />) +
redbrown +  and translucent yellow +
deciduous +  and persistent +
conspicuous +
with hairlike bristles +  and setose +
5 (?) +  and 13 (?) +
subulate +
2 cm20 mm <br />0.02 m <br /> (2.5 cm25 mm <br />0.025 m <br />) +
hard +  and rigid +
decurrent +
winged +  and unsegmented +
tuberculate +  and smooth +
not disarticulating +
60 cm600 mm <br />0.6 m <br /> (120 cm1,200 mm <br />1.2 m <br />) +
16 cm160 mm <br />0.16 m <br /> (25 cm250 mm <br />0.25 m <br />) +
nearly smooth +  and tuberculate +
16 cm160 mm <br />0.16 m <br /> (19 cm190 mm <br />0.19 m <br />) +
segmented +
woody +  and succulent +
light green +  and green +
brown +  and tan +
0 cm0 mm <br />0 m <br /> (0.6 cm6 mm <br />0.006 m <br />) +
adventitious +
tuberlike +
epipetric +  and epiphytic +
Opuntia oricola +
species +
dull +  and glossy +
yellow +  and paler +
segmented +
0 cm0 mm <br />0 m <br /> (30 cm300 mm <br />0.3 m <br />) +
shrub +  and tree +
terrestrial;epiphytic or epipetric +
tan +  and gray +