Species: Opuntia polyacantha
Panhandle 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
Hair-spine Prickly-pear - Starvation Cactus - Starvation Prickly-Pear - oponce à épines nombreuses - plains pricklypear
Informal Taxonomy
Plants, Vascular - Flowering Plants - Cactus Family
Formal Taxonomy
Plantae - Anthophyta - Dicotyledoneae - Caryophyllales - Cactaceae - Opuntia - Distinct taxon.
Ecology and Life History
Short General Description
Clump or mat forming prickly pear. Cactaceae.
Reproduction Comments
<i>Opuntia polyacantha</i> as with other widespread <i>Opuntias</i> is known to reproduce both sexually and asexually, in addition to being self-dispersed and dispersed by animals that eat the fleshy fruits (Valiente-Banuet and Godinez-Alvarez 2002). This species is generally self-incompatible (Osborn et al. 1988).
Conservation Status
NatureServe Global Status Rank
G5
Global Status Last Reviewed
2003-02-28
Global Status Last Changed
1988-06-30
Distribution
Conservation Status Map
<img src="http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/servlet/GetMapGif?CA.AB=S5&CA.SK=S5&US.AZ=SNR&US.CA=SNR&US.CO=SNR&US.ID=SNR&US.KS=S4&US.MO=SNR&US.MT=S5&US.NN=S5&US.NE=SNR&US.NV=SNR&US.NM=SNR&US.ND=SNR&US.OK=S4&US.OR=SNR&US.SD=SNR&US.TX=SNR&US.UT=SNR&US.WA=SNR&US.WY=S5" alt="Conservation Status Map" style="width: 475px; height: auto;" />
Global Range
It occurs in the U.S. in California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Wyoming, Oklahoma; in Canada in Alberta and Saskatchewan; and likely in Mexico.