Opuntia rubescens Salm-Dyck ex DC.

  • Authority

    Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.

  • Family

    Cactaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Opuntia rubescens Salm-Dyck ex DC.

  • Description

    Species Description - Treelet 6 m tall, with a single cylindrical trunk, ca. 20 cm diam., with persistent clusters of spines; spines grayish, 2-12.5 cm long; bark reddish or grayish brown, flaking off; branches flattened, spreading or descending, with lateral joints. Joints lanceolate, oblong or elliptic, with wavy margins, 20-50 cm long; areoles 1-2 cm apart, with yellowish, minute, woolly fibers and deciduous brown glochids; spines 6-12, thin, acicular, grayish, 1-3 cm long. Flowers 2-3 cm wide; receptacle flattened-obovoid to flattened-ellipsoid, slightly tuberculate, with numerous spines. Perianth yellow, turning orange with age, erect, broad, obtuse with apiculate apex; stamens shorter than petals; style stout, as long as the stamens. Fruit green, to 6 cm long, flattened-obovoid, with persistent spines. Seeds rounded, 6-8 mm wide.

  • Discussion

    Opuntia catacantha Link & Otto ex Pfeiff., Enum. Diagn. Cact. 166. 1837.

    Opuntia spinosissima sensu Eggers, Fl. St. Croix 58. 1879, non Mill., 1768.

    Common names: blyden bush, buds an' rice, prickly pear.

    Cultivated species: Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Mill, is found occasionally growing in gardens as an ornamental plant but has not naturalized

  • Distribution

    Common in dry coastal scrub areas. Waterlemon Bay (A4132). Also on St. Croix, St. Thomas, Tortola, and Virgin Gorda; Puerto Rico and the Lesser Antilles.

    West Indies| Puerto Rico South America| Virgin Gorda Virgin Islands South America| Tortola Virgin Islands South America| Saint Thomas Jamaica South America| Saint Croix Virgin Islands of the United States South America|