Opuntia fragilis - Unknown
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Internal ID UUID643ff6d7d34dd462545048
Scientific name Opuntia fragilis
Authority (Nutt.) Haw.
First published in Suppl. Pl. Succ.: 82–83. 1819.

Description Top

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Opuntia fragilis, also known as brittle pricklypear or little prickly pear, is a small cactus native to western North America and some midwestern states. It can also be found in parts of Canada, with a unique population in Eastern Ontario. This cactus has small, fragile joints and typically grows to be no more than 10 cm tall. Its flowers are greenish yellow and its fruit is ovate to subglobose with few spines or bristles. There are several varieties of this cactus, including one with more swollen joints and another with olive-green, bulbous-looking joints.

Synonyms Top

Scientific name Authority First published in
Opuntia sabinii Pfeiff. Enum. Diagn. Cact.: 147. 1837.
Tunas fragilis Nieuwl. & Lunell in Amer. Midl. Naturalist 4: 479. 1916.
Terecaulis fragilis (Nutt.) Berge Buch der Welt: 91. 1842.
Cactus fragilis Nutt. Gen. N. Amer. Pl. 1: 296–297. 1818.
Opuntia fragilis var. brachyarthra (Engelm. & J.M.Bigelow) J.M.Coult. in Contr. U.S. Natl. Herb. 3(7): 440. 1896.
Opuntia brachyarthra Engelm. & J.M.Bigelow in Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 3: 302. 1856.
Opuntia fragilis f. brachyarthra (Engelm. & J.M.Bigelow) Schelle Handb. Kakteenkult.: 56. 1907.
Opuntia fragilis subsp. brachyarthra (Engelm. & J.M.Bigelow) F.A.C.Weber in Phytologia 51: 374. 1982.
Opuntia fragilis var. caespitosa L.H.Bailey Stand. Cycl. Hort. 4: 2363. 1916.
Opuntia fragilis var. denudata E.F.Wiegand & Backeb. Descr. Cact. Nov. 1: 10. 1957.
Opuntia fragilis var. parviconspicua Backeb. Descr. Cact. Nov. 1: 10. 1957.
Opuntia fragilis var. tuberiformis L.H.Bailey Stand. Cycl. Hort. 4: 2363. 1916.

Common names Top

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Language Common/alternative name
English brittle cactus
English brittle prickly-pear
English brittle pricklypear
English fragile cactus
English jumping cactus
English little pricklypear
Hungarian törékeny fügekaktusz
Lithuanian trapioji opuncija
Dutch broze vijgcactus
Swedish sköropuntia
Swedish brytopuntia
Chinese 脆節仙人掌

Subspecies (abbr. subsp./ssp.) Top

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Varieties (abbr. var.) Top

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Subvarieties (abbr. subvar.) Top

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Forms (abbr. f.) Top

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Germination/Propagation Top

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Distribution (via POWO/KEW) Top

Legend for the distribution data:
- Doubtful data
- Extinct
- Introduced
- Native
  • Northern America
    • Eastern Canada
      • Ontario
    • North-central U.S.A.
      • Illinois
      • Iowa
      • Kansas
      • Minnesota
      • Nebraska
      • North Dakota
      • Oklahoma
      • South Dakota
      • Wisconsin
    • Northeastern U.S.A.
      • Michigan
    • Northwestern U.S.A.
      • Colorado
      • Idaho
      • Montana
      • Oregon
      • Washington
      • Wyoming
    • South-central U.S.A.
      • New Mexico
      • Texas
    • Southwestern U.S.A.
      • Arizona
      • California
      • Utah
    • Western Canada
      • Alberta
      • British Columbia
      • Manitoba
      • Saskatchewan

Links to other databases Top

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Database ID/link to page
World Flora Online wfo-0000385744
Canadensys 4143
USDA Plants OPFR
Tropicos 5100066
KEW urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:1093743-2
The Plant List kew-2391882
PFAF Opuntia fragilis
Open Tree Of Life 627845
Observations.org 195430
NCBI Taxonomy 446151
Nature Serve 2.159232
IUCN Red List 151913
IPNI 1093743-2
iNaturalist 62474
GBIF 5384113
Freebase /m/06w3h9m
WisFlora 4363
FEIS plants/cactus/opufra
EPPO OPUFR
EOL 479266
Calflora (Californian flora) 5939
US Library of Congress sh97006231
USDA GRIN 417537
Wikipedia Opuntia_fragilis

Genomes (via NCBI) Top

No reference genome is available on NCBI yet. We are constantly monitoring for new data.

Scientific Literature Top

Below are displayed the latest 15 articles published in PMC (PubMed Central®) and other sources (DOI number only)!
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Title Authors Publication Released IDs
Plant macrofossil data for 48-0 ka in the USGS North American Packrat Midden Database, version 5.0 Strickland LE, Thompson RS, Shafer SL, Bartlein PJ, Pelltier RT, Anderson KH, Schumann RR, McFadden AK Sci Data 12-Jan-2024
PMCID:PMC10786896
doi:10.1038/s41597-023-02616-y
PMID:38216580
The diverse diaspora of CAM: a pole-to-pole sketch Holtum JA Ann Bot 12-Jun-2023
PMCID:PMC10800000
doi:10.1093/aob/mcad067
PMID:37303205
“When the Wild Roses Bloom”: Indigenous Knowledge and Environmental Change in Northwestern North America Turner NJ, Reid AJ Geohealth 01-Nov-2022
PMCID:PMC9665002
doi:10.1029/2022GH000612
PMID:36398276
Reinventory of the vascular plants of Mormon Island Crane Meadows after forty years of restoration, invasion, and climate change Caven AJ, Wiese JD Heliyon 03-Jun-2022
PMCID:PMC9192816
doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e09640
PMID:35711997
Fusarium and Neocosmospora Species Associated with Rot of Cactaceae and Other Succulent Plants Kamali-Sarvestani S, Mostowfizadeh-Ghalamfarsa R, Salmaninezhad F, Cacciola SO J Fungi (Basel) 01-Apr-2022
PMCID:PMC9024871
doi:10.3390/jof8040364
PMID:35448595
Plant sizes and shapes above and belowground and their interactions with climate Tumber‐Dávila SJ, Schenk HJ, Du E, Jackson RB New Phytol 08-Mar-2022
PMCID:PMC9311740
doi:10.1111/nph.18031
PMID:35150454
Betalains in Edible Fruits of Three Cactaceae Taxa—Epiphyllum, Hylocereus, and Opuntia—Their LC-MS/MS and FTIR Identification and Biological Activities Evaluation Barkociová M, Tóth J, Sutor K, Drobnicka N, Wybraniec S, Dudík B, Bilková A, Czigle S Plants (Basel) 04-Dec-2021
PMCID:PMC8708308
doi:10.3390/plants10122669
PMID:34961142
Commodity risk assessment of Ullucus tuberosus tubers from Peru Bragard C, Dehnen‐Schmutz K, Di Serio F, Gonthier P, Jacques M, Jaques Miret JA, Justesen AF, MacLeod A, Magnusson CS, Milonas P, Navas‐Cortes JA, Parnell S, Potting R, Reignault PL, Thulke H, Van der Werf W, Vicent Civera A, Zappalà L, Lucchi A, Urek G, Gómez P, Mosbach‐Schulz O, Maiorano A, de la Peña E, Yuen J EFSA J 10-Mar-2021
PMCID:PMC7944563
doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2021.6428
PMID:33732391
The influence of cactus spine surface structure on puncture performance and anchoring ability is tuned for ecology Crofts SB, Anderson PS Proc Biol Sci 21-Nov-2018
PMCID:PMC6253362
doi:10.1098/rspb.2018.2280
PMID:30464068
Pest categorisation of Nacobbus aberrans Jeger M, Bragard C, Caffier D, Candresse T, Chatzivassiliou E, Dehnen‐Schmutz K, Gilioli G, Grégoire J, Jaques Miret JA, MacLeod A, Navajas Navarro M, Parnell S, Potting R, Rafoss T, Rossi V, Urek G, Van Bruggen A, Van der Werf W, West J, Winter S, Kaluski T, Niere B EFSA J 11-Apr-2018
PMCID:PMC7009736
doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2018.5249
PMID:32625881
Cytogeography of the Humifusa clade of Opuntia s.s. Mill. 1754 (Cactaceae, Opuntioideae, Opuntieae): correlations with pleistocene refugia and morphological traits in a polyploid complex Majure LC, Judd WS, Soltis PS, Soltis DE Comp Cytogenet 14-Feb-2012
PMCID:PMC3833768
doi:10.3897/CompCytogen.v6i1.2523
PMID:24260652
Exogenous Abscisic Acid Mimics Cold Acclimation for Cacti Differing in Freezing Tolerance. Loik ME, Nobel PS Plant Physiol 01-Nov-1993
PMCID:PMC159058
doi:10.1104/pp.103.3.871
PMID:12231985

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