Species: Opuntia fragilis
Brittle Prickly-pear
Species
Encyclopedia of Puget Sound
Classification
Kingdom
Plantae
Phylum
Anthophyta
Class
Dicotyledoneae
Order
Caryophyllales
Family
Cactaceae
Genus
Opuntia
NatureServe
Classification
Other Global Common Names
Brittle Prickly-pear Cactus - Pygmy Prickly-pear - brittle pricklypear - oponce fragile
Informal Taxonomy
Plants, Vascular - Flowering Plants - Cactus Family
Formal Taxonomy
Plantae - Anthophyta - Dicotyledoneae - Caryophyllales - Cactaceae - Opuntia
Ecology and Life History
Short General Description
Low, mat forming plants; miniature version of prickly pear.
Reproduction Comments
This Opuntia mainly reproduces asexually by detachment of its stems or cladode. In <i>O.fragilis </i>terminal stem segments break off easily from the parent plant and and take-root producing clonal individuals (Rebman and Pinkava 2001). This species is also believed to be dispersed by bison (Valiente-Banuet and Godinez-Alvarez 2002).
Ecology Comments
It is extremely cold tolerant, growing in Canada almost to the arctic circle (Weniger 1970). Species is fire adapted sprouting from root crown and layering from pads bureied in substrate protected from fire (Taylor, 2005).
Conservation Status
NatureServe Global Status Rank
G4G5
Global Status Last Reviewed
1988-06-30
Global Status Last Changed
1988-06-30
Distribution
Conservation Status Map
<img src="http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/servlet/GetMapGif?CA.AB=S4&CA.BC=S5&CA.MB=S4&CA.ON=S3&CA.SK=S5&US.AZ=SNR&US.CA=SH&US.CO=SNR&US.ID=SNR&US.IL=S1&US.IA=S1&US.KS=SNR&US.MI=S1&US.MN=SNR&US.MT=S4&US.NE=SNR&US.NV=SNR&US.NM=SNR&US.ND=SNR&US.OK=SNR&US.OR=SNR&US.SD=SNR&US.TX=SNR&US.UT=S4&US.WA=S4&US.WI=S3&US.WY=S2" alt="Conservation Status Map" style="width: 475px; height: auto;" />
Global Range
British Columbia, to W. Manitoba; near Kaladar, Ontario; Washington, Michigan, Illinois, California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Oregon, Idaho, Iowa, Montana, Wyoming, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Dakotas.