Opuntia nashii Britton

  • Authority

    Britton, Nathaniel L. & Millspaugh, Charles F. 1920. The Bahama Flora.

  • Family

    Cactaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Opuntia nashii Britton

  • Description

    Species Description - Tree-like, dull green. Main axis round, 1-4 m. high, 5-12 cm. in diameter, spiny; branches flat or becoming round below, the principal ones continuous, 1 m. long or more, 6 cm. wide or less, crenate, blunt; lateral branches opposite or alternate, oblong to linear-oblong, often 3 dm. long, and 8 cm. wide, only about mm. thick, blunt, crenate; areoles 1-3 cm. apart, slightly elevated; spines mostly 5 at each areole (2-5), divergent, slender, straight, Light gray, pungent, the longer 3-5 cm. long; glochides - very small, brownish; ovary 3 cm. long, 1.5 cm. thick, somewhat clavate, tubereled, the tubercles bearing areoles and spines similar to those of the joints, but the spines somewhat shorter; flowers l.5 cm. broad when expanded, red; petals broadly oval to obovate, blunt, about 8 mm. long, much longer than the stamens.

  • Distribution

    Scrub-lands and rocky plains, Andros, ship Channel Cay, Atwood Cay, Fortune Island, Crooked Island. North and South Calcos, Grand Turk, Eastern Cay, Turk's islands and Inagua. Endemic. Recorded by Mrs. Northrop and by Eitchcock as Opuntia spinosissima; and by Coker and presumably by Dolley as O. triacantha. Nash's Prickly - Pear.

    South Andros Bahamas South America| Crooked Island Bahamas South America| Turks and Caicos Islands South America| Grand Turk Bahamas South America| Inagua Bahamas South America|