Opuntiads of the USA

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Opuntia lindheimeri subarmata

The status of this plant in the literature is very confusing. Herein, it is simply accepted as variant of O. lindheimeri, but it has been confused with O. engelmannii and O. engelmannii var. subarmata. It may have been described as a stand-alone taxon (O. subarmata), and it may have been described as O. tardospina or confused with that plant. Neither O. subarmata nor O. tardospina are accepted herein as “real” species.

One reason for the confusion about this plant is that it has never been validly published as Opuntia lindheimeri var. subarmata (so we are not calling it by that name). We'll just push all three names together for now and leave out the "var." part.

Part of the confusion over this plant is that it has surely been confused with spineless forms of other, large, yellow-flowered species such as O. orbiculata (= O. dilleii). O. lindheimeri subarmata may have very few glochids, or may have many glochids, but it generally has few spines or essentially no spines. Alternately, O. lindheimeri subarmata may have been confused with O. aciculata, especially if the subarmata-type plants were heavily glochidate.

Subarmata intergrades with regular O. lindheimeri, but seems to be a distinct variety that occurs mostly at the western limits of the O. linheimeri range. The cladodes are fleshier, thicker, and "heavier seeming" than the cladodes of typical O. lindheimeri. Additionally, the plants of O. lindheimeri subarmata are denser appearing than regular O. lindheimeri. Subarmata-type plants make "thicker" shrubs, a more dense plant. The spines are typical O. linheimeri-yellow; however they may be grade to dark brown at the base, a characteristic that is unusual for O. linheimeri. The authors have observed plants near Amistad National Recreation Area, near Eagle Pass, TX, in the McKittrick hills west of Carlsbad, NM, and on the Edwards Plateau of Texas. Presumably O. lindheimeri subarmata is found in Mexico adjacent to Eagle Pass, TX and Del Rio, TX.

Editor-at-large (Dave Ferguson) has studied the plant extensively.

		Plant from McKitrick Hills, west of Carlsbad, NM, growing in Rio Grande Botanic Garden, Albuquerque, NM
Plant from McKitrick Hills	Plant from McKitrick Hills	Plant from McKitrick Hills
Plant from McKitrick Hills, with fruit	Same plant as left	Same plant as far left
Same plant as in photo immediately above	Opuntia lindheimeri subarmata clontotype, in flower	Same plant as immediate left
O. lindhimeri subarmata, southeast of Eagle Pass, TX, adjacent to border with Mexico	Close-up of plant at left, flower bud showing	Areoles of plant at far left, showing glochids
O. lindheimeri subarmata near Eagle Pass, TX, near plant shown in row above	Garden plant growing in 15 L container (3 1/2 gallon plastic container), January 2008	Garden plant, close-up of cladode
Close-up of garden plant in row above, showing areoles with glochids	Glocids on garden plant	Multiple areoles, and a single spine on garden plant
Opuntia lindheimeri subarmata, at Rio Grande Botanic Garden, Albuquerque, NM	Cladodes of plant at left	Close-up of plant at far left