Szutorisz, Kaktusz-Világ 26: 115, 2002

(Also see Szutorisz, Succulentes 4: 17, 2005)

Herbarium; Herbarium; Herbarium; Herbarium; Herbarium; Herbarium; Herbarium; Herbarium

See O. fragilis

See O. polyacantha

Original Description

What is Opuntia debreczyi?

Opuntia debreczyi is a variable prickly pear cactus that often grows 5 to 11 cm tall and perhaps 20 to 30 cm across in an irregular manner. 

Details

Cladodes on this cactus are often egg-shaped and oval (or round) in cross-section. However, cladodes are variable. They range in shape and size but are generally larger than those of O. fragilis (often much larger), and flattened joints are common. Unlike O. fragilis, the cladodes do not separate easily. Spines may be present or absent, short or long, depending upon the population in question, and up to 1-1.5 cm in length. 

Flowers may be anything from yellow to orange to magenta, with light-yellow, pink, or red centers. Some populations may be of mixed colors, but other populations are single-colored. The style is pale and the stigma is green or light-green. The fruit is oblong or clavate and tan when dry at maturity. Seeds are flat, whitish, and 5-6 mm in diameter. 

Ploidy is unknown. 

Other Notes

O. debreczyi tends to grow on open, sloping ground in upland areas above the lower deserts; it is often found with other opuntias such as O. trichophora and O. polyacantha. It may also occur with O. fragilis, O. zuniensis, Pediocactus simpsonii, Sclerocactus parviflorus, and Escobaria vivipara. Alternatively, this prickly pear may occur in pure stands with no other species of cactus nearby. It grows in southwestern Wyoming and across western Colorado to eastern Utah. It barely reaches into northeastern Arizona and northwestern New Mexico but is not common in these latter states.  Similar plants occur on the Snake River Plains, across much of the Great Basin, and north to southern British Columbia, where they are almost invariably and incorrectly called O. fragilis or confused with O. columbiana. 

O. debreczyi may have O. fragilis– and O. polyacantha-like plants in its ancestry or vice versa. However, this prickly pear constitutes a stable, self-reproducing species. Wherever its origins, it is not now a hybrid of O. polyacantha and O. fragilis. Various popular names are applied to garden forms of this Opuntia species including O. rutila, Super Rutila, and O. polyacantha rutila.

The small plants are colorful and cold-hardy. They grow in many garden situations and are excellent garden plants. 

Opuntia debreczyi

Opuntia debreczyi 'Potatoes', Western Colorado Botanical Gardens, Grand Junction, CO

Opuntia debreczyi (left), O. polyacantha schweriniana (right), Meeker, CO

Opuntia debreczyi foreground, Opuntia polyacantha hystricina background

Opuntia debreczyi, Coral Rose, Grand Junction Botanic Garden

Opuntia debreczyi, DeLanoy

Opuntia debreczyi, fruit, garden plant, Albuquerque, NM

Opuntia debreczyi, Meeker, CO

Opuntia debreczyi, Meeker, CO

Opuntia debreczyi, Meeker, CO

Opuntia debreczyi, Meeker, CO

Opuntia debreczyi, Meeker, CO

Opuntia debreczyi, Meeker, CO

Opuntia debreczyi, Mule Canyon Ruins, UT

Opuntia debreczyi, Mule Canyon Ruins, UT

Opuntia debreczyi, Mule Creek Ruin, UT

Opuntia debreczyi, ne side of La Sal Mts, UT

Opuntia debreczyi, Northern Nurseries

Opuntia debreczyi, Northern Nurseries

Opuntia debreczyi, Northern Nurseries

Opuntia debreczyi, Northern Nurseries

Opuntia debreczyi, Patrick Alexander

Opuntia debreczyi, Salt Lake City area, UT

Opuntia debreczyi, Western Colorado Botanical Gardens, Grand Junction, CO

Opuntia debreczyi, Western Colorado Botanical Gardens, Grand Junction, CO

Opuntia-debreczyi, Railroad St, Rifle, CO

Opuntia-debreczyi, Railroad St, Rifle, CO

Opuntia-debreczyi, Railroad St, Rifle, CO