Native & Naturalized Plants of the Carolinas & Georgia

Search by scientific name

OR search by...

2687

Shrub
Perennial

Native to the Carolinas & Georgia

Documented growing wild in GA NC SC

Rare

Look for it on coastal dunes and coastal scrub, shell middens in salt marshes of the Gulf Coast, occasionally in water-logged saline soils of mangroves, per Weakley's Flora

map
To see a detailed map, click here

 

...Dry

IS THE PLANT "ARMED"?
Cladodes armed with glochids (hair-like spines or short prickles) & spines

LEAVES:
Evergreen
Simple
Alternate

FLOWER:
Spring/Summer
Yellow
Bisexual or sometimes functionally staminate
Radially symmetrical
Numerous tepals (usually)
Numerous stamens (usually)
Inferior ovary

FRUIT:
Winter/Spring/Summer/Fall
Dark pinkish-purple
Berry

 

TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!



Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Caryophyllales

WEAKLEY'S FLORA (2/8/20):
 Opuntia stricta var. stricta   FAMILY Cactaceae

(?) PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Opuntia stricta   FAMILY Cactaceae

INCLUDED WITHIN Flora of North America
 Opuntia stricta

SYNONYMOUS WITH Synthesis of the North American Flora (Kartesz, 1999)
 Opuntia stricta var. stricta

INCLUDED WITHIN Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933)
 Opuntia stricta

 

COMMON NAME:
 Coastal Prickly Pear, Shell Midden Prickly-pear, Erect Prickly-pear

Click or hover over the thumbnails to see larger pictures.

image of Opuntia stricta var. stricta, Coastal Prickly Pear, Shell Midden Prickly-pear, Erect Prickly-pear

Keith Bradley    kab_opuntia_stricta_00142

April    Monroe County    FL

Valhalla Rock Barren

Spines mostly 0-3 per areole & straight [vs. var. dillenii 0-11 & curved], per Weakley's Flora (2015).

image of Opuntia stricta var. stricta, Coastal Prickly Pear, Shell Midden Prickly-pear, Erect Prickly-pear

Keith Bradley    kab_opuntia_stricta_00168

April    Monroe County    FL

Inner tepals light yellow throughout; filaments, anthers style & stigma yellow, per Flora of North America.

image of Opuntia stricta var. stricta, Coastal Prickly Pear, Shell Midden Prickly-pear, Erect Prickly-pear

Patrick D. McMillan    pdmo_stricta

Month Unknown        

Joints narrowly obovate, narrowly elliptic, or oblong, mostly 12-25(35)cm long, per Weakley's Flora.