{"id":3270,"date":"2025-10-17T09:12:21","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T14:12:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/?p=3270"},"modified":"2025-10-17T13:49:26","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T18:49:26","slug":"opuntia-cyclodes-and-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/opuntia-cyclodes-and-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"Opuntia cyclodes and Politics"},"content":{"rendered":"

(photograph = Opuntia cyclodes spines)\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Introduction<\/h2>\n

Opuntia cyclodes has yellow spines. This feature is constant over the entire range of the species. O. cyclodes is present off and on over about 40,000 square miles of NM and TX, and the spine color is the same everywhere. Why would a species have such strict rules enforcing spine color? Spines of other Opuntia species can vary from yellow to white, to brown, or may even be bicolored.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Details<\/span><\/h3>\n

Natural Selection tells us that having such strict rules is not an accident. Natural Selection tells us that something is keeping the species from having other spine colors. There is enforcement. However, why yellow?<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

It is really impossible to know “why yellow” without experimentation. However, some hypotheses can be advanced.<\/span><\/p>\n