View source for Opuntia macrocentra

{{Treatment/ID
|accepted_name=Opuntia macrocentra
|accepted_authority=Engelmann
|publications={{Treatment/Publication
|title=Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts
|place=3: 292. 1856
|year=1856
}}
|common_names=Black-spined pricklypear;purple pricklypear
|basionyms=
|synonyms={{Treatment/ID/Synonym
|name=Opuntia violacea
|authority=Engelmann ex B. D. Jackson
}}{{Treatment/ID/Synonym
|name=Opuntia violacea var. castetteri
|authority=L. D. Benson
}}{{Treatment/ID/Synonym
|name=Opuntia violacea var. macrocentra
|authority=(Engelmann) L. D. Benson
}}
|hierarchy=Cactaceae;Cactaceae subfam. Opuntioideae;Opuntia;Opuntia macrocentra
|hierarchy_nav=<div class="higher-taxa"><div class="higher-taxon"><small>family</small>[[Cactaceae]]</div><div class="higher-taxon"><small>subfamily</small>[[Cactaceae subfam. Opuntioideae]]</div><div class="higher-taxon"><small>genus</small>[[Opuntia]]</div><div class="higher-taxon"><small>species</small>[[Opuntia macrocentra]]</div></div>
|volume=Volume 4
|mention_page=page 138
|treatment_page=
}}<!--

--><span class="statement" id="st-d0_s0" data-properties="shrub orientation;shrub orientation;shrub orientation;shrub some measurement"><b>Shrubs,</b> erect to decumbent, to 1 m.</span> <span class="statement" id="st-d0_s1" data-properties="stem segment fusion;stem segment coloration;stem segment coloration;stem segment coloration;stem segment shape;stem segment shape;stem segment shape;stem segment shape;stem segment width;stem segment length;stem segment width;areole coloration or density"><b>Stem </b>segments not easily detached, purple (particularly under stress) to green with purple near areoles and margins of stem segment, flattened, broadly obovate to subcircular, thickish, 7–20 × 6–18 cm;</span> <span class="statement" id="st-d0_s2" data-properties="areole atypical count;areole count;areole arrangement or shape;areole arrangement or shape;areole arrangement or shape;areole length;areole width">areoles 6–8 (–10) per diagonal row across midstem segment, elliptic to circular, 3–7 × 2.5–5 mm;</span> <span class="statement" id="st-d0_s3" data-properties="wool coloration;wool coloration;wool coloration;wool life cycle;wool coloration">wool tan to whitish, aging black.</span> <span class="statement" id="st-d0_s4" data-properties="distal areole count"><b>Spines </b>0 or 1–15+ per areole, few and at distal areoles or many and on most areoles, usually erect to spreading, appearing unruly, sometimes deflexed, straight or curving, acicular, often flexible, subterete to flattened basally;</span> <span class="statement" id="st-d0_s5" data-properties="spine count;spine count;spine count;spine orientation;spine orientation;spine orientation;spine arrangement;spine orientation;spine course;spine course;spine shape;spine fragility;spine shape;spine shape;spine shape;spine length or size;spine coloration;spine coloration;spine coloration;spine coloration;spine coloration;spine coloration;spine coloration;spine coloration;spine atypical some measurement;spine some measurement">longer ones reddish-brown to ± black (rarely yellow to red in w Texas), or partly to wholly white, 30–120 (–170) mm;</span> <span class="statement" id="st-d0_s6" data-properties="spine orientation;spine count;spine count;spine height or length or size;spine coloration">reflexed spine rarely present, 1 in some areoles, short, whitish.</span> <span class="statement" id="st-d0_s7" data-properties="glochid density;glochid coloration;glochid life cycle;glochid coloration;glochid atypical some measurement;glochid some measurement;subapical tuft development"><b>Glochids </b>dense in crescent at adaxial edge of areole and well-developed subapical tuft, reddish yellow, aging brown, 2–3 (–6) mm.</span> <span class="statement" id="st-d0_s8" data-properties="inner tepal coloration;inner tepal architecture or shape;inner tepal some measurement;basal portion coloration"><b>Flowers:</b> inner tepals yellow with red basal portions, obovate-apiculate, 25–40 mm;</span> <span class="statement" id="st-d0_s9" data-properties="filament coloration;anther coloration">filaments and anthers yellowish;</span> <span class="statement" id="st-d0_s10" data-properties="style coloration">style cream;</span> <span class="statement" id="st-d0_s11" data-properties="stigma lobe coloration">stigma lobes green.</span> <span class="statement" id="st-d0_s12" data-properties="fruit coloration;fruit coloration;fruit coloration;fruit shape;fruit shape;fruit shape;fruit length;fruit width;fruit texture;fruit texture;fruit pubescence;fruit architecture"><b>Fruits </b>red to purplish, obovoid to barrel-shaped, 25–40 × 20–23 mm, fleshy or ± juicy, glabrous, spineless;</span> <span class="statement" id="st-d0_s13" data-properties="umbilicus some measurement;umbilicus depth">umbilicus 8–10 mm deep;</span> <span class="statement" id="st-d0_s14" data-properties="areole count">areoles 22–44.</span> <span class="statement" id="st-d0_s15" data-properties="seed coloration;seed shape;seed shape;seed shape;seed shape;seed length;seed width;side shape"><b>Seeds </b>yellowish, suborbicular to reniform, angled, 5–7 × 3.5–5 mm, sides flattened;</span> <span class="statement" id="st-d0_s16" data-properties="girdle prominence;girdle some measurement;2n chromosome count;2n chromosome count">girdle protruding 0.8–1.2 mm. <b>2n</b> = 22, 44.</span><!--

-->{{Treatment/Body
|habitat=Desert uplands, grasslands, oak woodlands, sandy desert flats, rocky hills and valleys
|elevation=900-1600 m
|distribution=Ariz.;N.Mex.;Tex.;Mexico (Chihuahua;Coahuila;Sonora).
|discussion=<p>Opuntia macrocentra var. minor is represented by relatively short and compact shrubs with a glochid pattern of a dense crescent in the adaxial edge of the areoles like the species and a much taller tuft of spreading glochids. This variety, which grows along the western side of the Rio Grande in Big Bend, Texas, appears best interpreted as a tetraploid hybrid between tetraploid putative parents, Opuntia macrocentra and O. tortispina.</p>
|tables=
|references=
}}<!--

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-->{{#Taxon:
name=Opuntia macrocentra
|author=
|authority=Engelmann
|rank=species
|parent rank=genus
|synonyms=Opuntia violacea;Opuntia violacea var. castetteri;Opuntia violacea var. macrocentra
|basionyms=
|family=Cactaceae
|habitat=Desert uplands, grasslands, oak woodlands, sandy desert flats, rocky hills and valleys
|elevation=900-1600 m
|distribution=Ariz.;N.Mex.;Tex.;Mexico (Chihuahua;Coahuila;Sonora).
|reference=None
|publication title=Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts
|publication year=1856
|special status=
|source xml=https://jpend@bitbucket.org/aafc-mbb/fna-fine-grained-xml.git/src/287ef3db526bd807d435a3c7423ef2df1e951227/V4/V4_261.xml
|subfamily=Cactaceae subfam. Opuntioideae
|genus=Opuntia
|species=Opuntia macrocentra
|2n chromosome count=44;22
|anther coloration=yellowish
|areole arrangement or shape=elliptic;circular
|areole atypical count=8;10
|areole coloration or density=purple
|areole count=22;44
|areole length=3mm;7mm
|areole width=2.5mm;5mm
|basal portion coloration=red
|distal areole count=many
|filament coloration=yellowish
|fruit architecture=spineless
|fruit coloration=red;purplish
|fruit length=25mm;40mm
|fruit pubescence=glabrous
|fruit shape=obovoid;barrel-shaped
|fruit texture=juicy;fleshy
|fruit width=20mm;23mm
|girdle prominence=protruding
|girdle some measurement=0.8mm;1.2mm
|glochid atypical some measurement=3mm;6mm
|glochid coloration=brown;reddish yellow
|glochid density=dense
|glochid life cycle=aging
|glochid some measurement=2mm;3mm
|inner tepal architecture or shape=obovate-apiculate
|inner tepal coloration=yellow
|inner tepal some measurement=25mm;40mm
|seed coloration=yellowish
|seed length=5mm;7mm
|seed shape=angled;suborbicular;reniform
|seed width=3.5mm;5mm
|shrub orientation=erect;decumbent
|shrub some measurement=0m;1m
|side shape=flattened
|spine arrangement=unruly
|spine atypical some measurement=120mm;170mm
|spine coloration=whitish;reddish-brown;more or less black or
|spine count=1;present;few;1;15
|spine course=curving;straight
|spine fragility=flexible
|spine height or length or size=short
|spine length or size=longer
|spine orientation=reflexed;deflexed;usually erect;spreading
|spine shape=subterete;flattened
|spine some measurement=30mm;120mm
|stem segment coloration=purple;green
|stem segment fusion=detached
|stem segment length=7cm;20cm
|stem segment shape=broadly obovate;subcircular
|stem segment width=6cm;18cm
|stigma lobe coloration=green
|style coloration=cream
|subapical tuft development=well-developed
|umbilicus depth=deep
|umbilicus some measurement=8mm;10mm
|wool coloration=black;tan;whitish
|wool life cycle=aging
}}<!--

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