Opuntia

There are more cacti in this genus can any other & also widely found in many places from Canada to southern Argentina & West Indies to Galapagos Islands. Strangely enough, the name came from Opuntia, a town in Greece where apparently some grew.

There are two features that split these from the other genus; segments & glochids. The segments can be either Platyopuntia, which means round, flattened joints. The other is Cylindropuntia, which are cylindrical joints. The glochids are small, barbed spines, which can be very irritating & the cacti has to be handled with great care. Sadly, Graeme found out when he was young, in fact it was 15 minutes before Lynford Christie won the gold medal in the Olympics at Barcelona '92.

As for size some of these grow to dwarf plants where others grow to the height of 100'.

Opuntia microdasys alba has a common set of names with two being Angel's Wings or Bunny Ears. Going back to the scientific name, alba relates to the white spines, etc. As mentioned above about Graeme sadly touching a plant & finding it not nice, this is it.

Its length can grow to 18" but there are varieties, which can grow slightly higher. Sadly, the flowers didn't completely show but they would be a lemon yellow.

The picture below is a variety & known as Opuntia microdasys monstrosus. Its thicker than the other & as seen, has a strange way of growing.

Cuttings from these are easily grown but again as said, be careful of touching them & perhaps the better way is using a glove.

Opuntia subulata, as seen, is a tree-like cacti & its height can be up to 13'. These are found in high elevations around Ecuador & Peru with the elevations being between 8 000-12 000'. The common name is Eve's Needles.

This cactus I took as a cutting but sadly no idea of its name other than Opuntia come first. The pictures are the same cacti but from left to right you can see how it's growth.

It knows how to grow!

This rather odd shape it an Opuntia vestita & it comes from Bolivia.

The next picture is the same cacti but three years older.

Another cacti whose name is beyond me but I'm sure part is Opuntia.

Repeat performance but still think it's within Opuntia family. This, as well as many of those above, were cuttings sized about 1" (2.5cm).

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