Stems
divided into flattened, usually elliptic joints (pads), or stems terete, branches tuberculate
Areoles
with up to 30 spines each; glochidia present
Leaves
usually absent or inconspicuous and soon deciduous
Flowers
solitary
Petals
various
Fruit
(ripe) purple, red or yellow, round, ellipsoid or ovoid, skin usually with glochidia, pulp greenish or red
Seeds
whitish to mid-brown; hilum white
x = 11 (high polyploidy)
Classification Notes:
N.P. Taylor (personal communication) states 'On the basis of seed anatomical features (W. Stuppy, unpublished) and pollen morphology (Leuenberger: 79-94 (1976)) I would recognise the following segregate genera from amongst those taxa introduced in South Africa: *
Austrocylindropuntia
Backeb. (*
O. cylindrica
and
subulata
); *
Cylindropuntia
(Engelm.) F. Knuth (*
O. rosea
and
imbricata
) and *
Opuntia
in strict sense (all others). All the names are available either way.' It seems from Taylor's letter and the references he cites that all species of *
Opuntia
with flat pads belong to the narrow interpretation of the genus, but species with cylindrical joints may belong to any of the three segregate genera. With the evidence available at the time of writing, there is no obvious way of distinguishing between these genera without seeds or pollen. Therefore, they are treated as one here.
Nomenclature:
*Opuntia
Mill.
Miller: [974] (1754)
Britton & Rose 1: 42 (1919)
Berger: 48 (1929)
Obermeyer: 149 (1976)
IOS Working Party: 75 (1986)
IOS Working Party: 88 (1990)
Barthlott & Hunt: 172 (1993)
Cylindropuntia
(Engelm.) F.Knuth
Knuth: 117, 410 (1935).
Austrocylindropuntia
Backeb.
Backeberg: [21] (1938)
Distribution & Notes:
Global
: Species ± 240, North and South America
Southern Africa
: At least 14 species are naturalised; several are widespread throughout the region
References:
BACKEBERG, C. 1938.
Blätter für Kakteenforschung
1938
BARTHLOTT, W. & HUNT, D.R. 1993.
Cactaceae
. In K. Kubitzki, J.G. Rohwer & V. Bittrich,
The families and genera of flowering plants
2. Springer-Verlag, Berlin
BERGER, A. 1929.
Kakteen
. Ulmer, Stuttgart
BRITTON, N.L. & ROSE, J.N. 1919-1923.
The
Cactaceae
. Carnegie Institution, Washington
IOS WORKING PARTY 1986. The genera of the
Cactaceae
: towards a new consensus.
Bradleya
4
IOS WORKING PARTY 1990. The genera of
Cactaceae
: progress towards consensus.
Bradleya
8
KNUTH, F. 1935.
Kaktus ABC
: 117, 410. Copenhagen
LEUENBERGER, B.E. 1976. Pollen morphology of the Cactaceae: an SEM-survey of exine sculpture and its tentative implications for taxonomy and phylogeny. Cactus and Succulent Journal of Great Britain 38
MILLER, P. 1754.
The gardener's dictionary
, abridged edn 4. Rivington, London
OBERMEYER, A.A. 1976.
Cactaceae
.
Flora of southern Africa
22
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