22.
Opuntia
x
vaseyi
(J. M. Coulter) Britton & Rose, Smithsonian Misc. Collect. 50: 532. 1908 (as species).
Opuntia
mesacantha
Rafinesque var.
vaseyi
J. M. Coulter, Contr. U. S. Natl. Herb. 3: 431. 1896;
O. humifusa
Rafinesque var.
vaseyi
(J. M. Coulter) A. Heller;
O. littoralis
(Engelmann) Cockerell var.
austrocalifornica
L. D. Benson & Walkington;
O
.
littoralis
var.
vaseyi
(J. M. Coulter) L. D. Benson & Walkington;
O.
rafinesquei
Engelmann var.
vaseyi
(J. M. Coulter) K. Schumann
Shrubs
, sprawling to spreading, to 1.2 m.
Stem segments
not disarticulating, green, flattened, obovate to elliptic, 7-22 × 5-12 cm, ± tuberculate, glabrous, glaucous; areoles 5-7(-8) per diagonal row across midstem segment, subcircular to elliptic, 3-6 × 2.5-3.5 mm; wool gray.
Spines
absent or 1-6 per areole, over distal 0-70% of stem segment, spreading to reflexed, yellow with chalky white coat and brown to yellow basal portions, aging dark red, straight, subulate, angularly flattened, the longest 20-48 mm.
Glochids
moderately dense in crescent at adaxial edge of areole and sparse or poorly developed in subapical tuft, yellow, aging red-brown, of unequal lengths, to 4 mm.
Flowers:
inner tepals yellow, orange, or dull red throughout, 25-35 mm; filaments orange-yellow sometimes darker near base; anthers yellow; style pink to red (rarely white); stigma lobes green to yellow-green.
Fruits
red-purple throughout, obovoid to subcylindric, 30-55 × 20-40 mm, juicy, glabrous, spineless; areoles 20-36.
Seeds
tan to gray, 4.5-6 mm diam.; girdle protruding to 0.5 mm.
2
n
= 66.
Flowering spring (Apr-May). Coastal sage scrub, chaparral, grassy hillsides, disturbed sites; 30-600 m; Calif.
The nothospecies
Opuntia ×vaseyi
resulted from hybridization between
O. littoralis
and
O. phaeacantha
(B. D. Parfitt and M. A. Baker 1993).
