Grassland Pricklypear

Description

Opuntia cymochila is a species of plant in the genus Opuntia ( Opuntia ) from the cactus family (Cactaceae). The specific epithet cymochila means '(Greek kyma) wave, (Greek cheilos) lip, edge; with a wavy edge (referring to the seed)'. Opuntia cymochila grows shrubby with several scattered branches and is often creeping and prostrate. The circular shoot sections are 15 to 20 centimeters long. The areoles are far apart. The one to three strong spines are whitish and 2.5 to 5 centimeters long. Sometimes hair-like thorns are also present. The yellow, rarely orange or reddish flowers reach a diameter of up to 8 centimeters. The rather small, dull purple fruits are ovate with a narrow base and apex. The chromosome number is 2n = 66. Opuntia cymochila is distributed in grasslands from the Great Plains to the state of New Mexico in the United States. The first description was in 1856 by George Engelmann and John Milton Bigelow. Nomenclatural synonyms are Opuntia mesacantha var. cymochila (Engelm. & JMBigelow) JMCoult. (1896), Opuntia rafinesquei f. cymochila (Engelm. & JMBigelow) Schelle (1907) and Opuntia tortispina var. cymochila (Engelm. & JMBigelow) Backeb. (1958). Opuntia, commonly called prickly pear or pear cactus, is a genus of flowering plants in the cactus family Cactaceae. Prickly pears are also known as tuna (fruit), sabra, nopal (paddle, plural nopales) from the Nahuatl word nōpalli for the pads, or nostle, from the Nahuatl word nōchtli for the fruit; or paddle cactus. The genus is named for the Ancient Greek city of Opus, where, according to Theophrastus, an edible plant grew and could be propagated by rooting its leaves. The most common culinary species is the Indian fig opuntia (O. ficus-indica). O. ficus-indica is a large, trunk-forming, segmented cactus that may grow to 5–7 m (16–23 ft) with a crown of over 3 m (10 ft) in diameter and a trunk diameter of 1 m (1 yd). Cladodes (large pads) are green to blue-green, bearing few spines up to 2.5 cm (1 in) or may be spineless. Prickly pears typically grow with flat, rounded cladodes (also called platyclades) containing large, smooth, fixed spines and small, hairlike prickles called glochids that readily adhere to skin or hair, then detach from the plant. The flowers are typically large, axillary, solitary, bisexual, and epiperigynous, with a perianth consisting of distinct, spirally arranged tepals and a hypanthium.