opuntia

(redirected from opuntias)
Also found in: Thesaurus, Encyclopedia.

Related to opuntias: prickly pear

o·pun·ti·a

(ō-pŭn′shē-ə, -shə)

Any of various cacti of the genus Opuntia of the Americas, having stems with flat or cylindrical jointed segments and small easily detached spines, and including the chollas and the prickly pears.

[Latin (herba) Opūntia, Opuntian (herb), feminine of Opūntius, of Opus, an ancient town of east-central Greece, from OpūsOpūnt-, Opus, from Greek OpousOpount-.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

opuntia

(ɒˈpʌnʃɪə)

(Plants) any cactus of the genus Opuntia, esp prickly pear, having fleshy branched stems and green, red, or yellow flowers

[C17: New Latin, from Latin Opuntia (herba) the Opuntian (plant), from Opus, ancient town of Locris, Greece]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Switch to new thesaurus

Noun

Opuntia - large genus of cactuses native to America: prickly pears

genus Opuntia

caryophylloid dicot genus - genus of relatively early dicotyledonous plants including mostly flowers

Cactaceae, cactus family, family Cactaceae - constituting the order Opuntiales

prickly pear, prickly pear cactus - cacti having spiny flat joints and oval fruit that is edible in some species; often used as food for stock

cholla, Opuntia cholla - arborescent cacti having very spiny cylindrical stem segments; southwestern United States and Mexico

Mentioned in ?

References in classic literature ?

[9] I found here a species of cactus, described by Professor Henslow, under the name of Opuntia Darwinii (Magazine of Zoology and Botany, vol.

View in context

Principales insectos plaga de las Opuntias en Argentina, Mexico y Brasil.

A study of Cactoblastis cactorum (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) in its native range: further insights into life cycle, larval identification, developmental parameters, natural enemies, and damage to the host plant Opuntia ficus-indica (Caryophyllales: Cactaceae)

As you become more familiar with the many Opuntias, you'll see that some of the pads are less spiny than others, and therefore easier to collect, clean, and work with.

Foraging for prickly pear cactus: in search of this common, tasty fruit

[7.] Scheinvar L Taxonomy of utilized Opuntias. In: Barbera, G., Inglese, P.

Efficacy of cactus pear (Opuntia ficus-indica) varieties as a source of food and feed in Endamehoni District, Northern Ethiopia

You can have a little of the Americas in your home or garden by growing opuntias. They make the largest group of cacti - you can get great big "cowboy" specimens or small ones for pots.

Caring for cacti

Excitement about the spineless cactus--a thorn-free variety of the Opuntia--had been building for several years when Burbank launched his newest plant wonder on the open market with a special twenty-eight-page catalog, The New Agricultural-Horticultural Opuntias: Plant Creations for Arid Regions, on June 1, 1907.

Luther Burbank's spineless cactus: boom times in the California desert

Pollination of the southwestern opuntias. Plant Systematics and Evolution 133:15-28.

Effectiveness and importance of pollinators to the star cactus (astrophytum asterias)

Singh G (2003) General review of Opuntias in India.

Chemical composition, structural analysis and antinutritional factors of Epiphyllum phyllanthus (L.) Haw. var. hookeri (Link & Otto) Kimn. (Cactaceae) phyllocladia/Composicion quimica, analisis estructural y factores antinutricionales de filocladios de Epiphyllum phyllanthus (L.) Haw. var. hookeri (Link & Otto) Kimn ..

We consider the following life-forms, according to the classification used by other authors (Gibson & Nobel, 1986): columnar cacti (species with long, column-like, ribbed stems measuring >2.0 m in height); barrel cacti (plants with ribbed stems, with a maximum height of 0.5-2 m); globose cacti (species with single or multiple hemispherical stems); cylindropuntias (opuntias with cylindrical stems); and platyopuntias (opuntias with flattened stems).

Demographic trends in the cactaceae

But planting in the glazed entrance hall is bizarrely exotic, with opuntias and yuccas dominated by an Australian black boy throwing strange shadows onto the vertical Devon earth.

Sheppard's pie

Le marchand ambulant d'el handi, kermous n'sara ou figue de Barbarie invite les connaisseurs a profiter de ce fruit sauvage (Opuntia ficus indica) le temps d'une saison.