Beavertail cactus

Opuntia basilaris

"Opuntia basilaris" is a cactus species found in southwest United States. It occurs mostly in the Mojave Desert, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, and Colorado Deserts, and also in the Colorado Plateau and northwest Mexico; it ranges through the Grand Canyon and Colorado River region to southern Utah, and in western Arizona, regions along the Lower Colorado River Valley.
Prickly Pear Cactus or Opuntia basilaris Prickly pears are mostly used for food in the Hispanic community. The pads are stripped of its spines, boiled then eaten. It is also used for low maintenance fencing and is very effective at keeping cattle corralled. Here are a few recipes for cooking the pad and making jam from the fruit. https://extension.arizona.edu/sites/extension.arizona.edu/files/pubs/az1800-2019.pdf Beavertail cactus,Geotagged,Opuntia basilaris,Spring,United States

Appearance

"Opuntia basilaris" is a medium-sized to small prickly pear cactus, depending on variety, growing to about 60 cm tall, with pink to rose colored flowers. A single plant may consist of hundreds of fleshy, flattened pads. These are more or less blue-gray, depending on variety, growing to a length of 14 cm and are maximum 10 cm wide and 1 to 1.5 cm thick. They are typically spineless, but have instead many small barbed bristles, called glochids, that easily penetrate the skin. "Opuntia basilaris" blooms from spring to early summer.
Beavertail Cactus Alabama Hills, CA. Sep 20, 2014. The beavertail Cactus is a medium-sized pear cactus, growing to about 60 cm tall and consisting of beaver-tail shaped flattened pads. They are spineless, but have many small barbed bristles, called glochids, that cand easily penetrate the skin. The pink to rose colored flowers are most common; however, a rare variety of white and even yellow flowers also exist. Opuntia basilaris bloom from spring to early summer. These pics were taken too late to see the flowers since it was already September. Habitat: Found in Alabama Hills, CA. This is a cactus species found in southwest United States. It occurs mostly in the Mojave Desert, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, and Colorado Deserts, and also in the Colorado Plateau and northwest Mexico; it ranges through the Grand Canyon and Colorado River region to southern Utah, and in western Arizona, regions along the Lower Colorado River Valley. Geotagged,Opuntia basilaris,Summer,United States

Naming

The species is variable in nature and several names under different ranks has been described to science. Only four of these are generally accepted.

⤷ "Opuntia basilaris" var. "basilaris"
⤷ "Opuntia basilaris" var. "brachyclada" - Little beavertail pricklypear
⤷ "Opuntia basilaris" var. "heilii" - Heil's beavertail
⤷ "Opuntia basilaris" var. "longiareolata" - Elongated beavertail prickly pear or Grand Canyon beavertail pricklypear
⤷ "Opuntia basilaris" var. "treleasei" - Trelease's beavertail prickly pear, Bakersfield cactus

Some experts consider the Trelease's beavertail to be a full species. It is unique among the varieties of "Opuntia basilaris" in that the areoles contain spines in addition to the bristles; this indicates that the species does vary a lot in its exterior.

Uses

The Cahuilla Native Americans used beavertail as a food staple. The buds were cooked or steamed, and then were eaten or stored. The large seeds were ground up to be eaten as mush.

References:

Some text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.

Taxonomy
KingdomPlantae
DivisionAngiosperms
ClassEudicots
OrderCaryophyllales
FamilyCactaceae
GenusOpuntia
SpeciesO. basilaris
Photographed in
United States of America