Scientific name:
Opuntia santa-rita
Common name:
Santa Rita prickly pear
Range:
Pima and Santa Cruz counties, south Arizona
Form:
Upright, branched shrub with a central trunk
Habitat:
Desert flats, grasslands, hillsides to 5,000 feet elevation
Flowers:
Yellow, with greenish-yellow stigmas
Distribution map for opuntia santa-rita
Opuntia santa-rita is an attractive species with limited distribution in far south Arizona, mostly around Nogales - between the Baboquivari and Santa Rita mountains. The mostly or completely spineless pads are bluish green in color with a distinct purple tinge, more evident during dry or cold weather, and they have a neat, regular array of areoles bearing yellow or brown glochids.
Pads are circular or slightly ovate in shape, about 7 inches across. If present, spines are white or pale yellow, up to 1.5 inches long, one per areole, and found mostly along pad edges. The species hybridizes with opuntia chlorotica, forming a purplish-padded plant with more spines, similar to opuntia gosseliniana.
Pads are circular or slightly ovate in shape, about 7 inches across. If present, spines are white or pale yellow, up to 1.5 inches long, one per areole, and found mostly along pad edges. The species hybridizes with opuntia chlorotica, forming a purplish-padded plant with more spines, similar to opuntia gosseliniana.
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