Common Prickly Pear at Molonglo Gorge
Identification history
| Opuntia stricta | 13 Mar 2024 | Tapirlord | ||
| Opuntia stricta | 12 Mar 2024 | HarleyB |
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User's notes
Known infestation under management.
3 comments
HarleyB
wrote:
14 Mar 2024
@Tapirlord @MichaelMulvaney
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/202128982
See if you agree with the iNaturalist ID. Opuntia anahuacensis is not on NatureMapr as a record so I can't change my ID history.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/202128982
See if you agree with the iNaturalist ID. Opuntia anahuacensis is not on NatureMapr as a record so I can't change my ID history.
MichaelMulvaney
wrote:
15 Mar 2024
Harley - neither the floras of Victoria or SA include anahuacensis and in some flora's it is included as a synonym of O. stricta or Opuntia dillen i. However the Inaturalist record could be right but I can't tell from the photo. Either way it is a bad one This is an extraction from teh ALA sighting the flora of Australia
Excluded or Uncertain Names
Opuntia anahuacensis Griffiths, The Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 43: 92 (1916)
Menkins (2022b) notes that Opuntia stricta is a relatively stable and identifiable species, whereas O. dillenii is variable and best viewed as a complex involving many races or genotypes. Some of these genotypes were previously regarded as species. The view adopted here follows the work of Menkins, and Plants of the World Online (POWO, accessed March 2022) in recognising the two taxa as separate species. Menkins points out that some large plants resembling O. dillenii but with robust cladodes and a few long and terete spines may be expressing genetic influences from other taxa. These plants show some resemblance to O. anahuacensis Griffiths (native to Texas, U.S.A.), which has has long been placed in synonymy with O. dillenii. However, some cacti enthusiasts and botanists disagree with subsuming O. anahuacensis into O. dillenii, arguing that it is a distinct species that is more closely related to O. lindheimeri (Menkins 2022b). Opuntia anahuacensis is an accepted species in POWO. A number of Australian observations in iNaturalist (accessed March 2022) have been identified by David Ferguson (ex curator of the Rio Grande Botanic Garden in Albuquerque, New Mexico) as Opuntia anahuacensis, and David Ferguson has also commented that O. bentonii is also present in Australia (iNaturalistAU - Pricklypears (Genus Opuntia, accessed March 2022). In the absence of a clear understanding of O. dillenii in Australia, O. dillenii is treated in a broad sense, following Menkins.
Excluded or Uncertain Names
Opuntia anahuacensis Griffiths, The Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 43: 92 (1916)
Menkins (2022b) notes that Opuntia stricta is a relatively stable and identifiable species, whereas O. dillenii is variable and best viewed as a complex involving many races or genotypes. Some of these genotypes were previously regarded as species. The view adopted here follows the work of Menkins, and Plants of the World Online (POWO, accessed March 2022) in recognising the two taxa as separate species. Menkins points out that some large plants resembling O. dillenii but with robust cladodes and a few long and terete spines may be expressing genetic influences from other taxa. These plants show some resemblance to O. anahuacensis Griffiths (native to Texas, U.S.A.), which has has long been placed in synonymy with O. dillenii. However, some cacti enthusiasts and botanists disagree with subsuming O. anahuacensis into O. dillenii, arguing that it is a distinct species that is more closely related to O. lindheimeri (Menkins 2022b). Opuntia anahuacensis is an accepted species in POWO. A number of Australian observations in iNaturalist (accessed March 2022) have been identified by David Ferguson (ex curator of the Rio Grande Botanic Garden in Albuquerque, New Mexico) as Opuntia anahuacensis, and David Ferguson has also commented that O. bentonii is also present in Australia (iNaturalistAU - Pricklypears (Genus Opuntia, accessed March 2022). In the absence of a clear understanding of O. dillenii in Australia, O. dillenii is treated in a broad sense, following Menkins.
HarleyB
wrote:
15 Mar 2024
Thanks for doing this research @MichaelMulvaney
I agree that regardless of the disagreements on classification that this is an invasive species that we should be controlling. The biocontrol I released on these cacti are showing some positive signs of establishing and given the chochineal released is a lineage specific to O. stricta I think we are on the right track.
I agree that regardless of the disagreements on classification that this is an invasive species that we should be controlling. The biocontrol I released on these cacti are showing some positive signs of establishing and given the chochineal released is a lineage specific to O. stricta I think we are on the right track.
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Nearby sightings
Location information
- Coordinates 149.266818-35.334107
- Altitude 661.0m
- Maps Molonglo Gorge
- Places Oaks Estate, ACT
Sighting information
- 101 - 1,000 Abundance
- 12 Mar 2024 01:18 PM Recorded on
- HarleyB Recorded by
-
Priority species lists
ACT Priority Weeds - please report!
Additional information
- 30cm to 1 metre Plant height
- True In flower
- False Shrub(s) planted
Species information
- Opuntia stricta Scientific name
- Common Prickly Pear Common name
- Not Sensitive
- Exotic
- Medium Weed or Pest
- Up to 790.6m Recorded at altitude
- Machine learning
-
In flower
- External link More information
Record quality
- Images or audio
- More than one media file
- Confirmed by an expert moderator
- Nearby sighting(s) of same species
- GPS evidence of location
- Description
- Additional attributes
