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| MaltaWildPlants.com by Stephen Mifsud |
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Opuntia vulgaris (Prickly Pear Cactus) |
Opuntia vulgaris (CACTACEAE.)
Images for this profile are taken from the Maltese Islands at or after year 2000. |
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| Nomenclature and Basic Information |
Species name : |
Opuntia vulgarisMiller
Published in Gard. Dict. ed. 8, no. 1 (1768) | Synonyms :
(basionym or principal syn.) |
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Plant Family : | Cactaceae
Juss. (The Cactus Family)
9 species from the Cactaceae family are recorded from the Maltese Islands. | English name(s) : | Prickly Pear Cactus, Palma Brava | Maltese name(s) : | Maltese name not known | Status for Malta : | Species that was introduced in Malta after year 1492 and spreads to form established, non-invasive populations. It may become become invasive if it widespreads rapidly. | Frequency : | Very Common Common Frequent
Scarce
Rare Very rare Extinct
| Growth form : |
Raunkiaer lifeform [info]: Macro-Phanerophyte (high trees usually over 10m )
Germination [info]: Dicotyledon | Legal Protection [link]: | Not Protected by Law (LN200/2011 or LN311/2006) | Red List (1989) : | Not listed in the Red Data Book of the Maltese Islands | Flowering Time : | Summer | Colour of Flowers: | Yellow | Remarks : | Some authors and botanists considers this as a synonym of Opuntia ficus-indica. |
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| Species Description and Distribution |
Habitat in Europe: |
Naturalized on rocks and walls |
Preferred habitat in Malta: |
Data will be available in the next update of this website. |
Botanical Description: |
Procumbent and spreading, or sometimes ascending shrub up to 0.5 m; joints 3-13(-17) cm, orbicular to oblong, thick, dark green. Leaves 4-8 mm, subulate, patent; areoles distant; spines 0-1(-2), up to 5 cm, brownish or whitish glochids numerous, yellow to dark brown. Flowers 5-9 cm in diameter, bright yellow, sometimes reddish in centre; filaments yellow; stigma-lobes white. Fruit 2.5-5 cm, obovoid to oblong, red, succulent, edible; seeds 4-5 mm wide |
Distributional range: |
S. & S.C. Europe |
Native region outside Europe: |
(E. North America, from Alabama to Ontario.) |
Distributional map in Europe
and the Mediterranean region (2018):
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Occurrences in Europe.
(from Flora Europaea pre year 1993): |
Introduced in Austria and Liechtenstein, Doubtful in Corse, Crete, France (incl. Monaco and Channel Islands but excluding Corse), Greece, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Italy (excl. Sicily and Sardignia), ex-Jugoslavia |
Occurrences in Europe and the Mediterranean region.
(Euro+Med Checklist, 2017) -
Country codes |
[nAE AE(G) nAg nAl nAz(M S) nBl Bl(M) nCa Ca(C F G H L P T) nCo nCr nCt nCy Da Fe nGa(F) -Ge nGr He nHs Hs(G S) nIJ Ir nIt nJu nLe nLi nLS nLu nMa nMd Md(D M P) No nSa ?Si nSi(M S) Su nSy nTn Tu(A) Uk(K)] |
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| Images (0 images) | |
No images of Opuntia vulgaris are available. If you can share your own images of this species to this website, please do so by using the image upload form below. Credits are given to the authors.
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| Submit further info on this species |
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Use this form to submit more information on this species or report mistakes in this webpage. If information supplied is taken from a book, journal or website, please provide the corresponding reference or website address. Your email address is only for internal communication. Please report only Maltese locations for plants that indicated as rare or very rare (refer to the Nomenclature section). Please do report mistakes, broken links, technical errors, silly typing / grammar errors, misidentifications or taxonomical updates; this will help to improve the website's accuracy. Thanks you! Fill any of the three sections (A/B/C) below and kindly submit the form. * = required fields.
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