Opuntia x vaseyi (J. Coulter)  Britton & Rose           =Opuntia littoralis var. austrocalifornica                       Cactaceae (Cactus Family)   Native    Red Flowered Prickly Pear   Coastal Prickly Pear

                                           May Photo

Plant Characteristics:  Suberect or sprawling, commonly 3-6 dm. high and of greater diam., without a trunk; joints bluish, narrowly obovate to suborbicular, 7-15 cm. long, spineless or with a few along the top of the joint, 0 to 4, in 0-70% of areoles, 6-12  (-20) mm. long; spines white, gray or golden,  generally flat, spreading to reflexed; inner perianth yellow, orange or dull red; filaments orange-yellow; style generally pink, stigma green to yellow-green; areoles 20-36; fr. reddish to reddish purple throughout, fleshy, 3.5-4 cm. long; seed light tan or gray, nearly discoid.

Habitat:  Mostly below 2000 ft., shaded places, Chaparral, Coastal Sage Scrub; Glendora (L.A. Co.) to Riverside Co.

Name:  Opuntia, old Latin name used by Pliny, formerly belonging to some other plant.  Australis, southern.  (Bailey 11).  Californica, of California.  (Bailey 12). Latin,  littoralis, of the seashore, or coastal.  Austr, Latin root meaning south or southern.  (John Johnson).  Austrocalifornica, of southern California.  (John Johnson).  Vaseyi, named in honor of George Vasey, (1822-1893), American authority on grasses.  (Jaeger 316).

General:  Uncommon in the study area, having been found along the bluffs on the westerly side of the bay.    Photographed on the bluff above the path between 23rd Street and Mariners Dr.  In May 2006 I found a specimen on the Castaway’s Bluffs. (my comments).        The fruit of the prickly pear cactus is collected in parfleche bags, worked over with twig brooms to remove the spines, and finally picked clean by the women, who wear deerskin thimbles especially made for the purpose.  The fruit is then split, the seeds removed, and the remainder sun dried.  The product is added to meat stew and is also used as a soup thickener.  (Hoebel 60).       See Opuntia littoralis var. littoralis for other notes on usage.        Probably about 300 species, from s. Canada to Straits of Magellan.  (Munz, Flora So. Calif. 314).

Text Ref:  Abrams Vol. III 150; Hickman, Ed. 456; Munz, Flora So. Calif. 317.

Photo Ref:  May 2 87 # 9A; May 1 88 # 11; April-May 91 # 36,37; April-May 94 # 14A.  

Identity: by R. De Ruff.  

First Found:  May 1987.

Computer Ref:  Plant Data 376.

No plant specimen.

Last edit 5/16/06.  

 

                         May Photo                                                                             May Photo