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Opuntia rzedowskii

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Opuntia rzedowskii
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Cactaceae
Subfamily: Opuntioideae
Tribe: Opuntieae
Genus: Opuntia
Species:
O. rzedowskii
Binomial name
Opuntia rzedowskii
Léia Scheinvar

Opuntia rzedowskii, also known as Rzedowski's prickly pear, is a species of prickly pear cactus in the family Cactaceae.[1]

Opuntia rzedowskii was described by Léia Scheinvar in 1976, but many older descriptions were accounted for the same species, but under a different taxonomic name in the early 1900s.[2]

It is native to central Mexico, specifically throughout parts of Guanajuato, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Jalisco, State Of Mexico, Michoacán, Nuevo León, Oaxaca, Puebla, Querétaro, San Luis Potosí, Tamaulipas, Tlaxcala, Veracruz, and Zacatecas, with most online observations being recorded in the outskirts of Mexico City.[2]

It grows primarily in the dry shrub-land zone of Mexico, where it is found among grassy environments, such as hillsides or prairies.[3]

Originally, Opuntia rzedowskii was assigned under Opuntia lasiacantha, until farther research revealed a morphological difference between the two species, hence making Opuntia rzedowskii its own official taxon.[4]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Opuntia rzedowskii". iNaturalist. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
  2. ^ a b "Opuntia lasiacantha Pfeiff. | COL". www.catalogueoflife.org. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
  3. ^ "Opuntia rzedowskii Scheinvar | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
  4. ^ Martínez González-Morales Sandoval, César Ramiro-José de Jesús (May 12, 2021). "Taxonomic status of two controversial species of Opuntia (Cactaceae) from Mexico based on morphological and molecular data". Bradleya: 1–13 – via BioOne Complete.