Opuntia aurea E.M.Baxter

Golden pricklypear (en)

Species

Angiosperms > Caryophyllales > Cactaceae > Opuntia

Characteristics

Shrubs, forming low clumps or with trailing branches, 10-30 cm. Stem segments not disarticulating, green to blue-green, flattened, elliptic to obovate, 6-15 × 5-12 cm, low tuberculate, papillate; areoles 7-11 per diagonal row across midstem segment, subcircular to elliptic, 3-5 × 2-4 mm; wool tan. Spines absent or only l spine in 1-few distal areoles, deflexed, yellow to gray, straight, terete, to 10 mm. Glochids in dense crescent at adaxial margin of areole and dense subapical tuft, yellow, to 6 mm. Flowers: inner tepals yellow throughout (magenta in introgressed plants), 25-30 mm; filaments white to yellow; anthers yellow; style white; stigma lobes green. Fruits tan to gray, 25-30 × 15-20 mm, dry, spineless; areoles 12-18. Seeds tan, subspheric to irregularly shaped, flattened, very large, 9-12 mm diam.; girdle thick, protruding 2.5-3.5 mm. 2n = 66.
Life form perennial
Growth form shrub
Growth support free-standing
Foliage retention deciduous
Sexuality hermaphrodite
Pollination -
Spread -
Mature width (meter) -
Mature height (meter) 0.1 - 0.3
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Environment

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Usage

Uses food
Edible fruits seeds stems
Therapeutic use Analgesic (unspecified), Dermatological Aid (unspecified)
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

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Images

Opuntia aurea unspecified picture

Distribution

Opuntia aurea world distribution map, present in United States of America

Conservation status

Opuntia aurea threat status: Least Concern

Identifiers

LSID -
WFO ID wfo-0001286990
COL ID 6T3JN
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID -
Wikipedia (EN) Link
Wikipedia (FR)

Synonyms

Opuntia aurea Opuntia basilaris var. aurea Opuntia erinacea var. aurea Opuntia lubrica var. aurea