| |
Opuntia elatior
|
| |
|
| |
Family:
CACTACEAE
|
| |
Citation: Opuntia elatior Mill., Gard. Dict. (ed. 8) 4. 1768; Gamble, Fl. Pres. Madras 548(387). 1919; Manilal & Sivar., Fl. Calicut 125. 1982; Mohanan, Fl. Quilon Dist. 197. 1984; Sunil & Sivadasan, Fl. Alappuzha Dist. 329. 2009.
|
| |
Malayalam Name(s):
Pathikalli
|
| |
Tamil name(s):
|
| |
English name(s):
Opuntia
|
| |
Description:
Tall, much-branched shrubs with spreading branches forming thickets. Branches or phylloclads fleshy, obovate, pale-green, jointed; areoles with 2-6 strong divaricate tawny or purplish-black spines. Flowers lateral. Calyx tube adenate to the ovary, lobes small. Petals spreading, connate below, yellow at first, changing to rose-pink. Stamens purple, indefinite, half the length of the perianth. Pistil shorter than the filaments. Hypanthium with tufts of bristles and a few spines. Berries red, marked with the areoles, bristles and spines deciduous, top depressed.
|
| |
Habit:
Shrub
|
| |
Flowering & Fruiting:
April-July
|
| |
District(s):
Kollam, Kozhikkode, Alappuzha
|
| |
Medicinal:
|
| |
Habitat:
Cultivated as ornamental plant
|
| |
Distribution:
Pantropical
|
| |
Aquatic:
No
|
| |
Epiphyte(s):
No
|
| |
Saprophyte:
No
|
| |
Stem parasite:
No
|
| |
Root parasite:
No
|
| |
Flower colour(s):
Yellow, Rose, Pink
|
| |
Weed:
No
|
| |
Monocot/Dicot:
Dicotyledonous Plants
|
| |
Exotic:
Yes
|
| |
Garden:
Yes
|
| |
Edible:
No
|
| |
Vegetable:
No
|
| |
Endemic to:
|
| |
IUCN status:
|
| |
Altitude:
|
| |
Localities:
|