Introduction:

Opuntia atrispina is an early flowering, attractive prickly pear cactus from Texas and adjacent Mexico.

Details

Plants may be up to 90 cm tall, but more normally they are 50 cm or less. They may spread to 1 m. Cladodes on this cactus are green and 10-15 cm wide by 10-20 cm long and egg-shaped, obovate, or circular. The plants are densely branched. The round spines of this Opuntia are unique because they are a distinctive rich dark red-brown, dark brown, or even jet black at their bases and light tan or yellow on their distal portions. The transition is abrupt and this two-tone coloring provides a and attractive and distinctive look.

Fully opened flowers are 4-5 cm across. Filaments are yellowish distally and greenish proximally. The style is white. Stigmas are yellow, greenish-yellow, or even cream-colored. The flowers are also distinctive because they open cream-colored or white-yellow and change to salmon, pink, red, or even tan-pink.  Moreover, newly opened flowers can have a hint of green in the center.

O. atrispina is diploid.

Additional reading: Opuntia atrispina at JSTOR