| | The genera of Cactaceae |
~ Austrocylindropuntia, Opuntia
The plants opuntioid. The stems spiny (usually), or not spiny. The plants terrestrial and self supporting, or scrambling (forming loose to dense clumps or cushions, the stem segments 3.5–7cm long); branched; clustering. The branches cylindrical, or globose (or ovoid). The stems segmented; not ribbed and grooved. The plants conspicuously tuberculate to not conspicuously tuberculate. The tubercles when present, elongated and prominent to indistinct. The tubercles not connected by ribs; spirally disposed. The areoles associated with tubercles to not tubercle-associated; sometimes concentrated towards the distal parts of the segments, closely approximating, or distant; spirally disposed; simple; hairy; with bristles, or without bristles; with glochids; with spines (usually), or without spines. The spines solitary, or paired, or clustered (usually); when present, 1–20; (1.5–)3–10 cm long; showing little or no difference between radials and centrals; without sheaths. The mature stems with much reduced leaves. Leaves of mature stems early deciduous, minute to small (0.5–3 mm long); fleshy; terete.
Flowering during the day. The flowers lateral; one per areole; sessile; medium-sized; 3–5 cm long; regular. The receptacle conspicuously produced beyond the ovary into a tubular hypanthium to not produced beyond the ovary (?). The perianth yellow, or red (never white). The perianth segments relatively short, broad. The funicles not circinate.
The mature fruit 1–6 cm long; globose, or ovoid, or ellipsoidal; naked, or not naked (then more or less spiny, or with a few bristles); spiny, or without spines; fleshy; indehiscent (?). The seeds 3.5–5 mm long; usually with a prominent girdle and lateral ridges, beige to brown; not hairy; globose or sub-globose, or ovoid, or pyriform; encased in their bony arils. The testa sometimes rugose. Cotyledons fleshy, foliaceous.
Natural Distribution. Southern Peru, Chile, Bolivia and northern Argentina.
Classification. About 20 species. Subfamily Opuntioideae. Tribe Austrocylindropuntieae.
Images. • Cumulopuntia fulvicoma: © Zoya Akulova (2017). • Cumulopuntia fulvicoma: © Zoya Akulova (2017). • Miquelopuntia miquelii, Cumulopuntia ignescens, Grusonia invicta (all as Opuntia): Britton & Rose (1919.
We advise against extracting comparative information from the descriptions. This is much more easily achieved using the DELTA data files or the interactive key, which allows access to the character list, illustrations, full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting or lacking specified attributes, and distributions of character states within any set of taxa. See also Guidelines for using data taken from Web publications.
Cite this publication as: ‘Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. 2018 onwards. The genera of Cactaceae: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval. Version: 14th November 2021. delta-intkey.com’.
