Opuntia query

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Mike P
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Opuntia query

Post by Mike P »

Hi all
I have been wiling away the winter evenings making a database of my collection (wish I had done this years ago) and have encountered name problem No 1.
I have an Opuntia labelled as 'hintonii' but cannot verify its name. There seem to be only one or two references on Google and I am not able to find it (or maybe recognise it) in any of the books I have.
This link shows the same plant that I have from a French site.
http://www.cactuspro.com/photos.php?act ... er&id=1620
Interestingly the one in the illustration seems to be grafted which may link with my experience of growing it. My plant reached about 6" in diameter before the centre portion rotted off (over generous watering early in the year I concluded) leaving me with a ring of rooted pads around the edge of the pot as each pad seems to root down as it grows. (I have been 'persuading' it to grow back towards the centre to fill the gap.
Any ideas?
Thanks
Mike
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Hob
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Re: Opuntia query

Post by Hob »

hob BCSS 49009 member of the south Norfolk branch
suffolk england
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Mike P
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Re: Opuntia query

Post by Mike P »

Thanks for that. Next time I will try searching the forum as well as Google.
Change of label needed.
Mike
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Marlon Machado
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Re: Opuntia query

Post by Marlon Machado »

Hi Mike,

This name is a nomen nudum, it has not been formally published as a species. This plant is a species of Airampoa, nowaday the genus Tunilla. Opuntia hintonii is placed in the synonym of Tunilla corrugata in the New Cactus Lexicon. There is an article by Roy Mottram about Opuntia hintonii in Tephrocactus Study Group 10 (4) 2004, where he places this plant in Opuntia corrugata as O. corrugata subsp. brevispina.

Cheers,
Marlon Machado.

Institute for Systematic Botany, University of Zurich, Zollikerstrasse 107, CH-8008 Zurich, Switzerland.
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Re: Opuntia query

Post by Marlon Machado »

Typed the other post and after I submited it I saw that Hob had beaten me on the answer ;)

So the name of your plant is Tunilla corrugata, and a nice form of that species from the picture you showed us.

Plants of Tunilla have this habit of forming fairy rings - the species of the genus creep along the ground, the new pads rooting and the older pads dying out, and some mounds in the field end up looking like fairy rings :)

Cheers,
Marlon Machado.

Institute for Systematic Botany, University of Zurich, Zollikerstrasse 107, CH-8008 Zurich, Switzerland.
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Mike P
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Re: Opuntia query

Post by Mike P »

Thanks Marlon
Mike
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Mike P
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Re: Opuntia query

Post by Mike P »

Further question
Any idea about this one? I have owned it for about 30 years and have regenerated it from scratch three times in that period. In all this time it has not flowered so I have now let it root through the pot and out into the ground beneath.As a consequence it is now about 1.5m high....and lethal as you brush past it.
I had for a long time believed it to be Opuntia engelmannii but have lately decided it is Opuntia stricta.
Any thoughts welcome.
[attachment 8504 Opuntia.jpg]
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Mike
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Bill
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Re: Opuntia query

Post by Bill »

Ooh I got one of those nasty beggers too Phil, be interesting to know what it is.
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Re: Opuntia query

Post by Marlon Machado »

Hi Mike,

Not Opuntia stricta, pads of wrong shape, spines not yellow enough, epidermis too glaucous. I think Opuntia engelmannii is still a better match.

Cheers,
Marlon Machado.

Institute for Systematic Botany, University of Zurich, Zollikerstrasse 107, CH-8008 Zurich, Switzerland.
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Mike P
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Re: Opuntia query

Post by Mike P »

Thanks Marlon
Unless it flowers some year soon its going to have to go....
Mike
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