Opuntioids say go!

Harriet · Post by **Harriet** » Tue Apr 13, 2010 12:00 am

lancer99 wrote: I was going from a list, not thinking about the plants, it was late, AND O. compressa is listed as a synonym of O. ficus-indica here on cactiguide....that's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it!

Maybe we should get Daiv to revisit his synonyms then. Everything I've seen lists compressa and humifusa as synonomous but not with ficus-indica...

Peterthecactusguy · Post by **Peterthecactusguy** » Tue Apr 13, 2010 12:02 am

I just checked it does list O. compressa as a syn of O. ficus-indicus.
Maybe Daiv should change that since that isnt correct, is it?

ihc6480 · Post by **ihc6480** » Tue Apr 13, 2010 12:22 am

It's not correct in my garden

lancer99 · Post by **lancer99** » Tue Apr 13, 2010 12:25 am

Blame Anderson's The Cactus Family, which is the standard for nomenclature here.

Under Opuntia ficus-indica (Linnaeus) P. Miller 1768, one of the synonyms is: Cactus compressus R. A. Salisbury 1796, illegitimate name: Opuntia compressa McBride 1922

So O. compressa is indeed a valid (or rather, a valid invalid) name for O. ficus-indica

-R

Peterthecactusguy · Post by **Peterthecactusguy** » Tue Apr 13, 2010 12:27 am

Robert, I see. I do not have any books about the nomenclature of cacti, so I do not have much insight onto that end of things. I do know a little bit about some of the people that came to Arizona tho.

Engelmann, Bigelow and Gregg(at least I think that was what his name was LoL)

Post by **daiv** » Tue Apr 13, 2010 12:29 am

Yep. I used to use Anderson exclusively for classification, but there are now a LOT of names and synonyms that are not included in Anderson. However, Anderson's system is the only one represented in entirety as of now. NCL is not far behind.

So the default classification here includes everything - or is supposed to when I'm done. Then where lumping on a given species occurred, it will be noted in a table and eventually in a compare page.

Peterthecactusguy · Post by **Peterthecactusguy** » Tue Apr 13, 2010 12:37 am

Daiv,
I see. That does make sense.

thanks for the clarification.

lancer99 · Post by **lancer99** » Tue Apr 13, 2010 2:53 am

Enough taxonomy, here is Cylindropuntia spinosior eight days ago:

and three days ago:

I think it liked its first spring drink!

-R

Peterthecactusguy · Post by **Peterthecactusguy** » Tue Apr 13, 2010 2:56 am

I think so too, it looks like it sure sprung up a little bit!

I got one of those rooted...

king_hedes · Post by **king_hedes** » Tue Apr 13, 2010 4:04 am

that thing jumped up quick

lancer99 · Post by **lancer99** » Fri May 07, 2010 12:51 pm

I can't believe how fast/prolific these guys are!

Opuntia engelmannii...I swear those new pads were the size of my pinky fingernail a few days ago, now they're 2" long!:

Likewise for O. littoralis:

Cylindropuntia leptocaulis (not the one I was worried about drying up):

I count over thirty new sprouts on this one plant. If they all grow, it's gonna be a mini-thicket in a pot!:

Opuntia fragilis. The very elongated cladode is from last year, when it was in my sunroom. I'll remove it if it doesn't remove itself. Still, 12 new pads growing:

Here is a "what would you do?"....

I shouldn't even have this Austrocylindropuntia subulata, as it was meant for a friend:

As you can see, it suffered damage over the winter to the tips of the stems. But now there's new growth coming through the damaged portions:

What should I do? My instinct is to cut both branches just above where the new branch starts.....or will that make it even uglier?

Thx for any advice,
-R

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Fri May 07, 2010 2:17 pm

I would find another friend to give it to.

Post by **daiv** » Fri May 07, 2010 2:22 pm

I say don't cut. these things branch a lot anyway and grow fast. Soon, any damage will be unnoticeable.

lancer99 · Post by **lancer99** » Fri May 07, 2010 4:09 pm

In the end, I'm not sure why I even asked....I knew what I would do in the end.

daiv, there's a lot of damage to the tubercles, mostly on the other side of the plant, and that would never go away.

So I let my samurai cleaver instincts take over:

There was some method to my chopping madness...I tried to cut it into segments based on the amount of damage to the tubercles.

Even if none of them root, I'm assured of having a "clean" plant starting from here:

Cheers,
-R

Cacti77 · Post by **Cacti77** » Fri May 07, 2010 4:37 pm

lancer99 wrote:I can't believe how fast/prolific these guys are!

Opuntia engelmannii...I swear those new pads were the size of my pinky fingernail a few days ago, now they're 2" long!:

I have a couple of Opuntia engelmannii pads growing and yes they grow incredibly fast.

I planted one upside down the other day, I hope it does well. I have seen other people do this and it worked great. The roots were coming out of the top of the cutting and the bottom had dried up so I had no choice.