Opuntia stricta

Brazil, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Opuntia_stricta_(7296176918).jpg">

Life-forms

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Eudicots
Cladus: Core eudicots
Ordo: Caryophyllales

Familia: Cactaceae
Subfamilia: Opuntioideae
Tribus: Opuntieae
Genus: Opuntia
Series: O. ser. Tunae
Species: Opuntia stricta
Name

Opuntia stricta (Haw.) Haw., 1812.
Type: Without data (lectotype: de Candolle, Pl. Hist. Succ. pl. 138. 1804). Lectotypified by L.D.Benson, Cacti U.S. Canada 931. 1982.

Synonyms

Basionym

Cactus strictus Haw., Misc. Nat. 188. 1803.

Heterotypic

Cactus dillenii Ker Gawl., Bot. Reg. 3: pl. 255. 1818.
Cactus humilis Haw., Misc. Nat. 187. 1803.
Cactus opuntia var. inermis DC., Pl. Hist. Succ. pl. 138. 1804.
Opuntia airampo Phil., Anales Univ. Chile 85: 492. 1894.
Opuntia anahuacensis Griffiths, Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 43: 92. 1916.
Opuntia atrocapensis Small, Man. S.E. Fl. 905, 1506. 1933.
Opuntia bartramii Raf., Atl. J. 146. 1832.
Opuntia bentonii Griffiths, Rep. (Annual) Missouri Bot. Gard. 22: 25, pl. 1- 2. 1912.
Opuntia cyanella Griffiths, Rep. (Annual) Missouri Bot. Gard. 22: 30, pl. 9- 10. 1912.
Opuntia dillenii (Ker Gawl.) Haw., Suppl. Pl. Succ. 79. 1819.
Opuntia gilvoalba Griffiths, Rep. (Annual) Missouri Bot. Gard. 22: 35, pl. 9, 16-17. 1912.
Opuntia gomei Griffiths, Rep. (Annual) Missouri Bot. Gard. 21: 167, pl. 21- 22. 1910.
Opuntia horrida Salm-Reifferscheid-Dyck ex de Candolle, Prodr. 3: 472. 1828, nom. illegit.
Opuntia humilis (Haw.) Haw., Syn. Pl. Succ. 189. 1812.
Opuntia inermis (DC.) DC., Prodr. (de Candolle) 3: 473. 1828.
Opuntia keyensis Britton ex Small, J. New York Bot. Gard. 20: 31, pl. 225. 1919.
Opuntia laxiflora Griffiths, Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 43: 85. 1916.
Opuntia longiclada Griffiths, Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 43: 525, pl. 30. 1916.
Opuntia macrarthra Gibbes, Proc. Elliott Soc. Nat. Hist. Charleston 1: 273. 1859.
Opuntia magnifica Small, Man. S.E. Fl. 910, 1506. 1933.
Opuntia maritima Raf., Atl. J. 146. 1832.
Opuntia nitens Small, Man. S.E. Fl. 906, 1506. 1933.
Opuntia parva A.Berger, Hort. Mortol. 411. 1912.
Opuntia spinalba Raf., Atl. J. 147. 1832.
Opuntia stricta var. dillenii (Ker Gawl.) L.D.Benson, Cact. Succ. J. (Los Angeles) 41: 126. 1969.
Opuntia tenuiflora Small, Man. S.E. Fl. 908, 1506. 1933.
Opuntia tunoides Gibbes, Proc. Elliott Soc. Nat. Hist. Charleston 1: 272. 1859.
Opuntia zebrina Small, J. New York Bot. Gard. 20: 35, pl. 226. 1919.

Distribution
Native distribution areas:

Continental: Northern America
Regional: Southeastern USA
Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina
Regional: Mexico
Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest
Regional: Southern Central USA
Texas
Introduced into:
Albania, Algeria, Andaman Is., Angola, Bahamas, Baleares, Benin, Bermuda, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Canary Is., Cape Provinces, Cayman Is., China South-Central, China Southeast, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, France, Free State, Greece, Hainan, Haiti, India, Italy, Jamaica, KwaZulu-Natal, Leeward Is., Libya, Madeira, Morocco, Namibia, New Caledonia, New South Wales, Nicobar Is., North Caucasus, Northern Provinces, Northern Territory, Peru, Puerto Rico, Queensland, Senegal, Sicilia, South Australia, Spain, Swaziland, Transcaucasus, Tunisia, Turks-Caicos Is., Venezuelan Antilles, Victoria, Western Australia, Windward Is.

References: Brummitt, R.K. 2001. TDWG – World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, 2nd Edition
References
Primary references

Haworth, A.H. 1812. Synopsis plantarum succulentarum: cum descriptionibus, synonymis, locis, observationibus anglicanis, culturaque. 334 pp. London: R. Taylor. BHL Reference page. : 191.

Additional references

Korotkova, N., Aquino, D., Arias, S., Eggli, U., Franck, A. , Gómez-Hinostrosa, C., Guerrero, P.C., Hernández, H.M., Kohlbecker, A., Köhler, M., Luther, K., Majure, L.C., Müller, A., Metzing, D., Nyffeler, R., Sánchez, D., Schlumpberger, B. & Berendsohn, W.G. 2021. Cactaceae at Caryophyllales. org–a dynamic online species-level taxonomic backbone for the family. Willdenowia 51(2): 251–270. DOI: 10.3372/wi.51.51208 Open access Reference page.

Links

Korotkova, N. et al. 2022. Opuntia stricta in Cactaceae at Caryophyllales.org. A global synthesis of species diversity in the angiosperm order Caryophyllales. Published online. Accessed: 2022 Jan 16. Reference page.
Govaerts, R. et al. 2022. Opuntia stricta in Kew Science Plants of the World online. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published online. Accessed: 2022 Jan 16. Reference page.
International Plant Names Index. 2022. Opuntia stricta. Published online. Accessed: Jan 16 2022.
Tropicos.org 2022. Opuntia stricta. Missouri Botanical Garden. Published online. Accessed: 16 Jan 2022.
USDA, ARS, Germplasm Resources Information Network. Jan 16 in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service. Accessed: 2022.

Vernacular names
English: erect pricklypear, pest pricklypear, shell-mound pricklypear
español: Nopal Estricto, yaaxpakan, nopal tunero costero
日本語: センニンサボテン
中文: 缩刺仙人掌

Opuntia stricta is a species of large cactus that is endemic to the subtropical and tropical coastal areas of the Americas, especially around the Caribbean.[2] Common names include erect prickly pear and nopal estricto (Spanish).[4] The first description as Cactus strictus was published in 1803 by Adrian Hardy Haworth. In 1812 he moved the species to the genus Opuntia.

Description
Close up of flower

It is a shrubby, erect plant, extending lengthwise to somewhat upright and reach heights of growth up to 2 m (6.6 ft) in height, producing lemon yellow flowers in the spring and summer, followed by purplish-red fruits. It is quick to colonize hot, open environments with sandy soils. The bald, flattened, ovate to inverted egg-shaped, tapered at the base shoot sections are blue-green. They are 25 to 64 cm (10 to 25 inches) long and 15 to 64 cm (6 to 25 inches) inches wide. The brownish areoles are far apart leaving most of the epidermis, with often one or more yellowish spines, at least near the edges and towards the apex. They carry striking, yellow glochids that are 2 to 6 mm (0.079 to 0.236 inches) long. The 1 to 5 awl-shaped spur is flattened, provided with a light barb at the top thorns are yellow. They are perpendicular to the surface of the shoots and are 1.3 to 12.7 cm (0.5 to 5 inches) long.[5]

The yellow to yellowish orange flowers, which are solitary and formed by numerous membranous parts, reach a length of 13 to 15 cm (5 to 6 inches) and a diameter of 10 to 15 cm (4 to 6 inches). The flowers are ephemeral and melliferous. The purple-red, smooth fruits are inverted-egg-shaped and tapered at the base. They are 6.4 to 8.9 cm (2.5 to 3.5 inches) inches long and covered with plenty of glochids and are more or less pyriform, always purple in color, 4 to 6 cm (1.6 to 2.4 inches) in length and contain from 60 to 180 seeds (which may remain viable for more than 10 years), yellow to light brown, incorporated into the fruit pulp. As fruits are appreciated by birds and mammals, their seeds are dispersed by animals. The mucilage inside the leaves is used to treat burns and abscesses. It is edible in the same way as fruits.[6]
Distribution

Opuntia stricta occurs naturally in coastal beach scrub and sandy coastal environments in South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and along the Gulf Coast in Texas, Mississippi, and Alabama in the United States, as well as Bermuda, the Caribbean, eastern Mexico, Central America, and northern South America (in Venezuela and Ecuador). O. stricta is a major component in the understory of Bahamian dry forests in the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands.[7]
Invasive species
Fruit

Opuntia stricta has been introduced to other parts of the world, including Africa (including Madagascar),[8] Australia and southern Asia. O. stricta is considered an invasive species in South Africa and Kenya.[9] In Australia it has been the subject of one of the first effective biological control exercises using the moth Cactoblastis cactorum.[2] It was declared a Weed of National Significance by the Australian Weeds Committee in April 2012, but continues to be kept under control by the use of the Cactoblastis moth and a cochineal insect, Dactylopius opuntiae.

In Sri Lanka it has overgrown a 30 kilometres (20 mi) long coastal area between Hambantota and Yala National Park, especially in Bundala National Park, a Ramsar wetland site. It has overgrown several hundreds of hectares (acres) of sand dune areas and adjoining scrub forests and pasture lands. Some areas are so densely covered that they are completely inaccessible for humans and animals. The seeds are spread by macaque monkeys, and perhaps other animals and birds, that eat the large fruits. It is also spread by people cutting down the cactus but leaving the cuttings, which then re-sprout where they have fallen. No control measures have been carried out except some costly manual removal of about 10 hectares (25 acres) on the dunes near Bundala village. The cactus is due to invade Yala National Park.[10]

The opposite problem has been encountered in Texas, where Cactoblastis cactorum was first found in Brazoria County in 2017. This species of moth is highly destructive to this (and other) species of cactus native to the southern United States and northern Mexico.[11]
See also

Bahamian dry forests
Prickly pears in Australia

References

Durán, R., Gómez-Hinostrosa, C., Hernández, H.M., Tapia, J.L., Terrazas, T. & Loaiza, C. 2017. Opuntia stricta (amended version of 2013 assessment). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2017: e.T152773A121609630. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-3.RLTS.T152773A121609630.en. Downloaded on 22 April 2021.
"Opuntia stricta". Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Agricultural Research Service (ARS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 2009-12-05.
"Opuntia stricta (Haw.) Haw". Plants of the World Online. Kew Science. Retrieved 2021-03-11.
"Opuntia stricta (Haw.) Haw". ITIS Standard Report. Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 2009-12-03.
Opuntia stricta . In: Edward F. Anderson : The Cactus Family . Timber Press: Portland, Oreg., 2001, p. 520 f. ISBN 0-88192-498-9
Bernard Suprin, Arabian plants in New Caledonia, Noumea, Editions Photosynthesis2013, 382 p. ( ISBN 9782952731638 ), p. 188
Opuntia stricta Haworth In: NL Britton, JN Rose : The Cactaceae. Descriptions and Illustrations of Plants of the Cactus Family . Washington, 1919, Volume I, p. 161 f.
"Opuntia stricta (Haw.) Haw". GBIF. Retrieved 2021-11-01.
"Bug v killer cactus: Kenyan herders fight to stop a plant destroying their way of life". Retrieved 2022-06-06.
Lalith Gunasekera, Invasive Plants: A guide to the identification of the most invasive plants of Sri Lanka, Colombo 2009, pp. 84–85. A biodiversity status profile of Bundala National Park : a Ramsar national wetland of Sri Lanka Bambaradeniya, Channa N.B.; Ekanayake, S.P.; Fernando, R.H.S.S.; Perera, W.P.N.; Somaweera, R. Colombo : IUCN Sri Lanka, 2002. ISBN 955-8177-16-4
"Cactus moths". Brackenridge Field Laboratory. The University of Texas at Austin. Retrieved 2021-03-13.