Small ex Britton and Rose, The Cactaceae, Descriptions and Illustrations of Plants of the Cactus Family 4: 257, 1923

Original Citation

What is Opuntia abjecta?

Opuntia abjecta is a prickly pear cactus that occurs in the lower Florida Keys where it grows on bare limestone or where a bit of sand or humus has accumulated.

See GenBank locus JF787598

Details

This Opuntia grows up to 15 cm tall and forms multibranched mats. The cladodes are 2-8 cm long and thickish. While not fragile, the cladodes are also not firmly attached to each other. The longest spines on this prickly pear may be 4-5 cm. Like O. zebrina and unlike O. pusilla, this cactus has teardrop-shaped leaves. The seeds of O. abjecta are about 4 mm in diameter.

There is typically one yellow flower per cladode. The fruit is gently tuberculate, urn-shaped, and rounded at the base.

Both diploid and tetraploid forms of O. abjecta have been reported.

Other Notes

Some botanists have accepted this name as a synonym of O. triacantha. We accept O. abjecta as a taxon independent from O. triacantha (see Majure et al.). The type locality is Big Pine Key, FL.