View source for Opuntia tortispina

{{Treatment/ID
|accepted_name=Opuntia tortispina
|accepted_authority=Engelmann & J. M. Bigelow
|publications={{Treatment/Publication
|title=Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts
|place=3: 293. 1856
|year=1856
}}
|common_names=Plains pricklypear
|basionyms=
|synonyms={{Treatment/ID/Synonym
|name=Opuntia cymochila
|authority=Engelmann & J. M. Bigelow
|rank=species
}} {{Treatment/ID/Synonym
|name=Opuntia mackensenii
|authority=Rose
|rank=species
}} {{Treatment/ID/Synonym
|name=Opuntia tortispina var. cymochila
|authority=(Engelmann & J. M. Bigelow) Backeberg
|rank=variety
}}
|hierarchy=Cactaceae;Cactaceae subfam. Opuntioideae;Opuntia;Opuntia tortispina
|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 tortispina]]</div></div>
|volume=Volume 4
|mention_page=page 127, 133
|treatment_page=page 132
}}<!--

--><span class="statement" id="st-undefined" data-properties=""><b>Shrubs,</b> low, to 0.4 m, creeping from clumps, sometimes from thickened rootstocks. <b>Stem</b> segments not easily detached, pale green to deep green, graying with age, wrinkled when stressed, flattened, broadly obovate to ovate, 6.5–15 × 4–10 cm, tuberculate, glossy, glabrous; areoles 6–9 per diagonal row across midstem segment, oval, obovate, or subcircular, 2.5–5 × 1.5–4 mm; wool tan, aging brown. <b>Spines</b> 1–9 on most areoles to only on distal 1/2 of stem segment, white to gray with pale brown tips and bases, sometimes brown throughout; central spines 1–3, all deflexed or 1–2 porrect or ascending, terete or flattened, occasionally spirally twisted, 25–70 mm; small spines (2–)3–6(–8) strongly deflexed, usually slender, even bristlelike, 5–15 mm. <b>Glochids</b> forming a well developed adaxial tuft, yellow to brownish white, to 6 mm. <b>Flowers</b>: inner tepals yellow to gold, commonly darker to red near base, broadly spatulate, 30–40 mm, apiculate; filaments usually pale yellow; anthers yellow; style whitish to pale green; stigma lobes greenish. <b>Fruits</b> purple-red, oval to broadly ovate, subspheric or short ovoid, bases not narrowed, 30 × 20–25 mm, fleshy, base not narrowed, glabrous, spineless or nearly so; umbilicus deep; areoles 18–30. <b>Seeds</b> whitish to tan, irregularly shaped, flattened, 4–6 × 3–4 mm; girdle protruding 1–2 mm. <b>2n</b> = 44, 66.</span><!--

-->{{Treatment/Body
|phenology=Flowering spring–early summer (Apr–Jul).
|habitat=Grass-lands, pinyon-juniper-oak woodlands, sandy or shaley flats, rocky hills
|elevation=1400-1800 m
|distribution=Colo.;Kans.;Nebr.;N.Mex.;Okla.;Tex.;Wyo.
|discussion=<p><i>Opuntia tortispina</i> is apparently of hybrid origin. It has intermediate character states from its putative parents, <i>O. macrorhiza</i> (fleshy and spineless fruits) and <i>O. polyacantha</i> (areoles with basal deflexed spines and barrel-shaped fruits). The spirally twisted spines, which the specific epithet implies, are not at all characteristic for this species. When <i>O. tortispina</i> and O. cymochila are considered conspecific, the former has priority, as first selected by N. L. Britton and J. N. Rose (1919–1923, vol. 1).</p><!--
--><p>One favored hypothesis as to the origins is that the <i>O. humifusa</i>-<i>O. macrorhiza</i>-<i>O. pottsii</i> complex spread across the United States from the east coast to Arizona. <i>Opuntia polyacantha</i> originated in north-central Mexico and spread northward. Tetraploid <i>O. macrorhiza</i> came into contact with the east flank of <i>O. polyacantha</i> and hybridized (probably repeatedly, even at present), producing the highly variable taxon referred to here as <i>O. tortispina</i>, which then spread eastward onto the plains. <i>Opuntia tortispina</i> has hexaploid members, presumably from unions of reduced and unreduced gametes. Those hexaploids apparently hybridize with hexaploid <i>O. phaeacantha</i> and add further to variation of <i>O. tortispina</i>. Many of these variations have been formally named or since treated as synonyms of <i>O. macrorhiza</i>.</p>
|tables=
|references=
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-->{{#Taxon:
name=Opuntia tortispina
|authority=Engelmann & J. M. Bigelow
|rank=species
|parent rank=genus
|synonyms=Opuntia cymochila;Opuntia mackensenii;Opuntia tortispina var. cymochila
|basionyms=
|family=Cactaceae
|phenology=Flowering spring–early summer (Apr–Jul).
|habitat=Grass-lands, pinyon-juniper-oak woodlands, sandy or shaley flats, rocky hills
|elevation=1400-1800 m
|distribution=Colo.;Kans.;Nebr.;N.Mex.;Okla.;Tex.;Wyo.
|reference=None
|publication title=Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts
|publication year=1856
|special status=
|source xml=https://jpend@bitbucket.org/aafc-mbb/fna-data-curation.git/src/f50eec43f223ca0e34566be0b046453a0960e173/coarse_grained_fna_xml/V4/V4_247.xml
|subfamily=Cactaceae subfam. Opuntioideae
|genus=Opuntia
|species=Opuntia tortispina
}}<!--

-->[[Category:Treatment]][[Category:Opuntia]]