(Photograph = Opuntia gilvescens flowers, Nancy Hussey)
Introduction
Opuntia gilvescens is a widespread species. It grows in OK (Arbuckle Mountains and west), in central and western TX, in many parts of NM as well as in AZ, southern portions of Nevada, Utah, and CO, in the mountains of the eastern CA Mojave Desert, and into Mexico.
The Details
O. gilvescens is another species that has been conflated with O. phaeacantha. While the two species are related, they are distinct. O. gilvescens has obovate or short-obovate (nearly circular) pads and round-bottomed fruit. O. gilvescens is hexaploid.
Cladodes are generally dull. Plants from southwest NM and adjacent AZ are often pale; sometimes they have rhombic or more elongate joints and pale spines. Plants from the Mojave Desert area often have round pads with fewer than average areoles and a few pale spines. Plants from the Chihuahuan Desert of Mexico and into central Texas are often dark in appearance; they may become strongly red-purple in winter and the spines can be black. Some southern populations in NM, such as populations on the east side of the Sandia Mountains and down into Socorro County, and again in the Alamogordo area, often have wide, curved pads creating an interesting potato chip look.
Related Reading: Opuntia Web
