Opuntia sp.

Prickly Pear at Bruce, ACT

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Identification history

	Opuntia sp.	23 Feb 2023	Tapirlord
	opuntia microdasys	5 Nov 2022	ix

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User's notes

Your list of nasty plants includes some opuntia spp. Why not all of them? Why are garden Opuntia tolerated? There are some footpaths in Belconnen that are overgrown by "Prickly pear", so let's dob them in!

2 comments

MichaelMulvaney wrote:

7 Nov 2022

Thanks for this sighting. The lists of Opuntia provided in the drop down menu are of those that have been recorded in the region. Once a new species is recorded it is added to the list. We have had Opuntia recorded from this location previously. I identified it as Opuntia rufida Opuntia rufida (Blind Cactus)
This was once thought to be a subspecies of O. micodasys. I determined that the previous record was rufida and not microdasys mainly on the red-brown colour of the glochids, where as in your sighting they look more yellow-gold in colour - so perhaps both are present - However details are a little blurred in both your and the other Opuntia images from this location. How sure are you of your ID?

Tapirlord wrote:

23 Feb 2023

So a few things to consider with this one, but given the quality of the photo and the lack of discussion I'm going to put it in the Opuntia sp box for now.

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