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  Opuntia basilaris CACTUS ART
NURSERY

Cultivation and Mail Sale
of Cacti and Succulents.


Opuntia basilaris
New cladodes stretch from the plant base
(from which the name "basilaris")

Description: This is a smaller prickly pear, branching upwards to 30cm (60 cm) high in clumps up to 90cm (1.2 m) in diameter.
Stem: Oval to roundish blue-gray-green, with a blush of purple pigmentation (due to the presence of betacyanins pigments) that vary in function of temperature, glabrous or slightly covered with a velvety pubescence, smooth to wrinkled in dry conditions.  New pads stretching from the lower areas of the plant.
Areoles : Numerous with white or brown wool (3 mm of diameter), filled with brownish-reddish clustered bristles 3mm long (glochids).
Glochids:
While lacking spines the plant is well protected with copious and effective glochids that fill each areole and easily penetrate the skin.
Spines: Usually spineless, if a few spines are present they are confined to the upper rim of the pad.
Flower: 5cm in diameter and 6cm long;  open from spring to early summer. They are intensely rose purple with deep magenta-red filaments and  white or pink style, stigma is white. (yellow blooming plant are also know).
Fruit: Spineless, globular to obovate 4cm long. Tan grey and dry at maturity, areoles 24–76 usually puberulent.
Seeds: Large, rounded, smooth, cream colored, 0.5 to 1cm in diameter.
Notes:
Plant from different places of origin are somewhat variable in coloration, growth habit, pubescence, and flower color.


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Family: Cactaceae (Cactus Family)
Scientific Name: Opuntia basilaris Engelm. & J.M. Bigelow 1856 Published in: Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 3: 298-299. 1856. {Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts ; BPH 724.20}

Type: Protologue Arizona, Bigelow (LT: MO) lecto.-Benson, Cacti U.S. Canada 921. 1982
Type specimen(s) LT: Bigelow s.n., 1854, USA: Arizona (MO).

Vernacular name (s):Beavertail Cactus  -  Beavertail Prickly Pear (Referring to the pads that remember the tail of a beaver )

Distribution: Beaver tail cactus occurs in Arizona, southern Utah, southern Nevada, southern California, north western Mexico (northern Baja California and northern Sonora) From the ridge crest area of Sonora, Mojave and Colorado Deserts.

Habitat: Grows in very arid plains and valleys (rainfall mostly in winter  from 200 to 500 mm/year) in sandy or rocky soils with a basic pH (Ranges 6 to 8), from sea level to 1300m

Conservation status: Listed in CITES Appendix II

Etymology: The genus name "Opuntia" refers to a Greek name used by Pliny for a diverse plant which grew in the region of the town of Opus in Greece.
(The genus name implies: “plant of the town of Opus”).
The species name "basilaris" derives from the Latin
"basilis" which means basal and the suffix "-aris". ( The specific name implies: "from the base, basal").
 

 


Cultivation:
 Best in very fast draining mineral soils this plant is very rot prone, needs little water once established, avoid acid soils rich in humus or clayey. Tolerates sand.  Keep dry in winter.
Frost Tolerance
Hardy to -5°: Sun Exposure: They need maximum light exposure in full sun. Avoid shadow. Handle with precautions to avoid the prickly glochids, besides the blue pruina that cover the cladodes may be allergenic for same people.

Photo of conspecific taxa, varieties, forms and cultivars of Opuntia basilaris.


Photo gallery: Alphabetical listing of Cactus and Succulent pictures published in this site.

Photo gallery Opuntia

Home | E-mail | Plant files | Mail Sale Catalogue | Links | Information | Search

All the information and photos in cactus art files are now available also in the new the Enciclopedia of Cacti. We hope you find this new site informative and useful.