25.
Opuntia rufida
Engelmann, Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts. 3: 298. 1856.
Blind pricklypear
Opuntia
microdasys
(Lehmann) Pfeiffer var.
rufida
(Engelmann) K. Schumann;
O. rufida
var.
tortiflora
M. S. Anthony
Shrubs or trees
, with short trunk, many branched, 0.5-1.5 m.
Stem segments
not disarticulating, grayish green, flattened, reni-form, circular, elliptic, or obovate, (7.5-)10-18(-25) × 5-25 cm, low tuberculate, pubescent; areoles 8-13 per diagonal row across midstem segment, circular, 3-3.2 mm diam.; wool white to tan, aging gray.
Spines
absent.
Glochids
numerous, nearly filling areole, red-brown to white, 1-2.5 mm.
Flowers:
inner tepals yellow throughout, aging apricot to orange, obovate-apiculate, 25-38 mm; filaments whitish; anthers yellow; style green; stigma lobes dark green.
Fruits
red with green flesh, obovate, 20-35 × 15-23 mm, fleshy, short pubescent, spineless; umbilicus 5-7 mm deep; areoles (30-)36-52.
Seeds
yellowish, elliptic to subcircular, angular, 3-3.5 × 2.5-2.8 mm, thick, sides smooth or with 1-2 depressions; girdle protruding about 0.3 mm.
2
n
= 22.
Flowering spring (Mar-Apr). Calcareous to volcanic flats, hillsides, sandy to gravelly desert soils; 600-1300 m; Tex.; Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango).
Opuntia
rufida
hybridizes in Mexico with
O. microdasys
.
The vernacular name is derived from the tendency for the glochids to shed into the eyes of grazing cattle that bump against the plant.
