Opuntia References

Opuntia oricola
Opuntia oricola

Introduction

Multiple references were consulted during the construction of this prickly pear website–Opuntia Web. There are countless confusing references about cacti in general and opuntias in particular; there are often many names that refer to the same species of cactus. We worked our way through them to decide Opuntia names. Generally, we chose names that are associated with good descriptions or which are names of longstanding–or both. The names we chose provide a good starting place for the reader if they want to look up more names. For instance, O. humifusa was called O. opuntia by Britton and Rose, but this name fell into disuse. Later, it was called O. compressa, and this name fell into disuse. At one time in the early 1800s O. humifusa was known as Cactus humifusus. Perhaps any of these names could be used, but we chose O. humifusa

An important part of a plant name is the person who named it, and the journal and year it was published. For instance, the long-form name of O. humifusa is “Opuntia humifusa (Rafinesque) Rafinesque, Flora Medica (or Manual of the Medical Botany of the United States of North America) 2: 247, 1830.” This long name tells you that the author was Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. The name was published in Flora Media, volume 2 on page 247 in 1830.  

Names make a difference. If you use O. humifusa, you will never find the writings about Cactus humifusus and you will miss important information. We present some of those references here so you can consult them for yourselves. You may decide to choose a name that we passed over, but these resources will help you find other names. 

On the other hand, for just gardening and enjoying plants, names are not so terribly important. O. humifusa is also known as O. compressa and most Opuntia growers know they are the same plant. Sometimes people describe a plant with a name such as, “the cactus from my grandmother that has yellow flowers.” This is fine for informal purposes. 

If you want more information, consult the resources listed here.  We also hope you will write to us if you have questions about names or for any other reason. Perhaps you will have a suggestion about a better name choice than we made. 

See in this Website

Chromosomes

DNA, Reproduction, and Ecology

How Species Are Identified

See references that support The Cholla Website

Other Sources

A Dictionary of Botany, Little, RJ and Jones, EU, Van Nostrand Reinhold Co, 1983

Biodiversity Heritage Library, Website

Botanicus, Website

Cacti & Other Succulents of Arizona (Field Guide to), Breslin, P et al, Tucson Cactus and Succulent Society,  2015

Cacti of Texas and Neighboring States, Weniger D, University of Texas Press, second ed, 1988

Cacti of the Southwest No. 4, Del Weniger, University of Texas Press, 1970

Cacti of the Unites States and Canada, Benson (availabe for checkout)

Cacti of the Trans-Pecos and Adjacent Areas, Powell MA and Weedin JF, Texas Tech University Press, 2004 

Cacti, Agaves, and Yuccas of California and Nevada, Ingram, S, Cachuma Press, 2008

Cacti, Biology and Uses, Park S Nobel, 2003, University of California Press

Cactiguide, Website

Cactus and Succulent Digital Library, Website

Club Chollas of the Big Bend, Fenstermacher, 2016

Cholla Phylogenomics, Majure et. al, 2019

Chromosome Counts Database, Website

Corynopuntia is Grusonia After All, Majure et al., 2019

Cow Tongue Opuntia, a garden form

Curtis’ Botanical Magazine, historical cactus painings

Curtis’ Botanical Magazine, special issue, cacti

Cylindropundia acanthocarpa infrastructure, Baker, et al., 2018

Cylindropuntia x anasaziensis

Cylindropuntia x anasaziensis (apparent earliest publication)

Cylindropuntia x anasaziensis (original description as C. viridiflora)

Cylindropuntia Chromosome Numbers, Baker and Pinkava, 2018

Cylindropuntia chuckwallensis, Baker and Cloud-Hughes, 2014

Cylindropuntia multigeniculata, Baker, 2016

Cylindropuntia Nomenclatural Changes, Baker, et al, 2019

Engelmann botanical notebook, Opuntia

Field Guide to Cacti & Other Succulents of Arizona, Breslin et al., 2015

Flora of North America, Website

Index to Plant Chromosome Numbers, Website

Morphological and Ecological Characterization of Opuntia on the coast of South Carolina, Holmes, 2016

Opuntia toumeyi
Opuntia toumeyi

Opuntia at American Southwest, Website

Opuntia at Encyclopedia Britannica. Website

Opuntia at Encyclopedia of Life, Website

Opuntia, at Wikipedia, Website

Opuntia cacanapa (and O Ellisiana)

Opuntia gilvescens

Opuntia orbiculata

Pricklypears commonly found in the United States and northern Mexico, Green, C with Ferguson, D, 2012

The Cactaceae: descriptions and illustrations of plants of the cactus family, NL Britton and NJ Rose, Carnegie Institution of Washington, volume 1, 1919

The Cactaceae: descriptions and illustrations of plants of the cactus family, NL Britton and NJ Rose, Carnegie Institution of Washington, volume 2, 1920

The Cactaceae: descriptions and illustrations of plants of the cactus family, NL Britton and NJ Rose, Carnegie Institution of Washington, volume 3, 1922

The Cactaceae: descriptions and illustrations of plants of the cactus family, NL Britton and NJ Rose, Carnegie Institution of Washington, volume 4, 1923

The Cacti of the United States and Canada, Benson, Internet Archive to borrow for 1 hour

The cactus and succulent digital library, website

The Cactus Family, Anderson, E, Timber Press, 2001

The New Cactus Lexicon (text volume), Hunt with others, 2006

The Plant List, Website

The Succulent Plant Page, Website

Tucson area prickly pears

Trees, Shrubs & Cacti of South Texas, Everitt, JH and Drawe, DL, Texas Tech University Press, 1993

Tropicos, Website

xCylindronia, a New Nothogenus, Baker et al, 2022

…and many other sources

 

Note

The Cactaceae: Descriptions and Illustrations of Plants of the Cactus Family was provided courtesy of the Cactus and Succulent Digital Library. The PDF copy that we use has been pass through optical character recognition and manually checked. Our thanks to the CSDL. 

Curti’s Botanic Magazine articles were provided courtesy of the Cactus and Succulent Digital Lirary. 

 

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