Brasiliopuntia

Brasiliopuntia
Brasiliopuntia brasiliensis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Core eudicots
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Cactaceae
Subfamily: Opuntioideae
Tribe: Opuntieae
Genus: Brasiliopuntia
(K.Schum.) A.Berger
Species: B. brasiliensis
Binomial name
Brasiliopuntia brasiliensis
(Willd.) A.Berger
Synonyms

Cactus brasiliensis Willd.

Brasiliopuntia is a genus in the cactus family, Cactaceae. It contains only one species, Brasiliopuntia brasiliensis.

It is found in Brazil, Paraguay, eastern Bolivia, Peru and northern Argentina, and has become naturalized in Florida among other places.[1]

Description

Brasiliopuntia brasiliensis shows thin, slightly shrunken cladodes on a central cylindrical trunk. The leaves are bright green.

White areoles bear one or two small brown upright spines.

Light brown flowers appear only on adult plants.

Brasiliopuntia brasiliensis

Systematics

Brasiliopuntia brasiliensis was placed in the genus Opuntia when the very broad genus Cactus was dismembered. The distinctive features of the species were recognized by Karl Schumann in 1898 when he created a subgenus Brasiliopuntia within the genus Opuntia. In 1926 Alwin Berger completed the separation from Opuntia by raising Brasiliopuntia to a full genus. A number of species have been described in the past, but are now considered only to be variants of B. brasiliensis.[1]

Species list

Synonyms:

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Anderson, Edward F. (2001), The Cactus Family, Pentland, Oregon: Timber Press, ISBN 978-0-88192-498-5, pp. 132–133
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Brasiliopuntia.

Bibliography

External links