Natural Prickly Pear Hybrid
This natural hybrid (Opuntia engelmannii x phaecantha) of two common and local prickly pear cacti - the Engelmann's Prickly Pear (Opuntia engelmannii) and the brown-spined prickly pear (Opuntia phaecantha), shows characteristics of both and have resulted in a large, mature beautiful cactus growing at some elevation in the Ajo Mountains in Southern Arizona. Since so many of our native members of the Opuntia genus are so closely related and have overlapping natural ranges, hybridization is common among many species, and is the source of much confusion and frustration for biologist and naturalist alike! This particular plant has the beautiful silvery white spines and flower petal shape of O. engelmannii and the flower coloration and growth pattern of O. phaecantha.
- Copyright
- ©2015
- Image Size
- 6000x4000 / 8.9MB
- Keywords
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Ajo, Ajo Range, Alamo Canyon, Angiosperms, Arizona, Brown-spined prickly pear, Brownspine prickly pear cactus, Cactaceae, Caryophyllales, Core eudicots, Engelmann's prickly pear, Eudicots, Kingman prickly pear, Mojave prickly pear, New mexico prickly pear, O. engelmannii, O. phaeacantha, OPCNM, Opuntia, Opuntia engelmanni, Opuntia engelmannii, Opuntia engelmannii x phaecantha, Opuntia phaeacantha, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Pima County, Plantae, Purple-fruited prickly pear, Sonoran Desert, Texas prickly pear, Tulip prickly pear, abrojo, arid, botany, cacti, cactus, cactus apple, common, cow tongue prickly pear, cow's tongue cactus, desert, desert prickly pear, dicot, discus prickly pear, evergreen, flora, green, heat, hurt, hybrid, hybridization, joconostle, nature, nopal, nopal pardo, pad, pain, painful, perennial, plant, plateau prickly pear, poke, prickle, prickly, prickly pear, segmented, sharp, shrub, southwest, spike, spiky, spring, succulent, thorn, thorny, vela de coyote, west, western, wild
- Contained in galleries
- Opuntieae
