|
Photographer: Derek Anderson
|
Family Cactaceae
Opuntia fragilis (Nutt.) Haw.
brittle prickly-pear, fragile prickly-pear, little prickly-pear
Opuntia: Greek name used by Pliny for a different plant which grew around the town of Opus in Greece
fragilis: brittle
|
|
| Status: | Threatened |
| Plant: | prostrate/spreading, perennial, spiny shrub forming dense mats up to 20" wide; stems branched, the joints not very flat, somewhat swollen and easy to detach |
| Flower: | yellow to greenish, 7 or more-parted, 1 1/2"-2" wide; blooms May-July |
| Fruit: | fleshy, wingless, greenish to red when fresh, drying to tan, inedible, seeds disc-like with irregular edges  |
| Leaf: | usually more than 2 spines together |
| Habitat: | dry; prairies |
| (Glossary) |
|
 Haw.&phog=Charles R. Bomar&spcode=OPUFRA)
 Haw.&phog=Charles R. Bomar&spcode=OPUFRA)
 Haw.&phog=Derek Anderson&spcode=OPUFRA)
 Haw.&phog=Hugh H. Iltis&spcode=OPUFRA)
