Galapagos Species Database
The Galapagos Species Database shares the information about the species from our Natural History Collections.
Opuntia megasperma
tuna, Prickly pear cactus
An impressive tree cactus with flat, spiny pads. The flowers are bright yellow. Adult cacti have orange-brown trunks with flaking bark and upper branches forming a crown. Popular in gardens for its sculpture-like quality.
Domain
Eukaryota
Kingdom
Plantae
Phylum
Magnoliophyta
Class
Magnoliopsida (= Dicotyledoneae)
Order
Caryophyllales
Family
Cactaceae
Genus
Opuntia
Species
megasperma
Taxon category: Species with Infraspecific Taxa
Syn.: Opuntia megasperma var. megasperma Howell (WFO, 2021).
Origin: Endemic
- Wiggins, I.L. Porter, D.M. (1971) Flora of the Galapagos Islands Standford University Press, Stanford.
- Porter, D.M. (1983) Vascular Plants of the Galapagos: Origins and Dispersal. In: Bowman, R.I., Berson, M. & Leviton, A.E. (eds.): Patterns of evolution in Galápagos organisms. Pacific Division, AAAS, San Francisco, California, p. 33-96.
- Lundh, J.P. (1995) Some additional information and comments on the Annotated Check list of Vascular Plants of the Galapagos Islands by Lawesson, Adsersen and Bentley. Charles Darwin Research Station, unpublished.
- Lawesson, J.E. Adsersen, H. & Bentley, P. (1987) An updated and annotated check list of the vascular plants of the Galapagos islands. Rept. Bot. Inst., Univ. Aarhus 16: 1-74.
- Hicks, D.J. Mauchamp, A. (1996) Evolution and conservation biology of the Galapagos Opuntias (Cactaceae). Yearbook Cactus Succulent Soc. Am. 4:
- Jaramillo, P. (1998) Distribución Espacial de la Vegetación Vascular y Dispersión de Especies Introducidas dentro del Parque Nacional Galápagos. Tesis de Doctorado en Biología, Universidad Central del Ecuador. Especialización ECOLOGIA DE POBLACIONES.
- Jørgensen, P.M. León-Yánez, S. (eds.) (1999) Catalogue of the Vascular Plants of Ecuador. Monographs in Systematic Botany from the Missouri Botanical Garden 75. Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis, 1181 pp.
- McMullen, C.K. (1999) Flowering plants of the Galapagos. Cornell University Press, Ithaca and London, 370 pp.
- Tropicos.org. (2017) Database of Missouri Botanical Garden. Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden. 06 Oct 2017 <http://www.tropicos.org
- Valencia, R. Pitman, N., León-Yánez, S. & Jørgensen, P.M. (2000) Libro Rojo de las Plantas Endémicas del Ecuador. Herbario QCA, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador. Ecuador 2000 i–iv, 1–489.
- Atkinson, R. Guézou, A. & Jaramillo, P. (2009) Siémbrame en tu jardín - Plantas nativas para jardines en Galápagos. Fundación Charles Darwin, Puerto Ayora, Galápagos, Ecuador, 151 pp.
- Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Missouri Botanical Garden (eds.) (2013) The Plant List, Version 1.1. Published on the Internet; http://www.theplantlist.org/ (accessed 1st January).
- Howell, J.T. (1933) The Cactaceae of the Galapagos Islands. Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci. 21(5): 41-54.
- Heleno, R. Blake, S., Jaramillo, P., Traveset, A., Vargas, P. & Nogales, M. (2011) Frugivory and seed dispersal in the Galápagos: what is the state of the art? Integrative Zoology 6: 110-128.
- Restrepo, A. Bush, M., Correa-Metrio, A., Conroy, J., Gardener, M. R., Jaramillo, P., Steinitz-Kannan, M., Overpeck, J. & Colinvaux, P. (2011) Impacts of climate variability and human colonization on the vegetation of the Galápagos Islands. Ecology: 1-42.
- Anderson, E.F. (1967.) An Account of My Cactus Collecting Trip to the Galapagos Islands. Cactus and Succulent J. Amer. 39:186-199.
- Lawesson, J.E. Hamann, O., Black, J. (1987) Recopilación de las recomendaciones del taller: Investigación Botánica y Manejo en Galápagos Memorias. Investigación Botánica y Manejo en Galápagos. Pg.329-336
- WFO (2021) World Flora Online. Published on the Internet. http://www.worldfloraonline.org/ WFO (2021): World Flora Online. Published on the Internet; http://www.worldfloraonline.org.
You are welcome to download and use the information found in this page, acknowledging its source.
This page should be cited as follows:
"Galapagos Species Database, Opuntia megasperma", dataZone. Charles Darwin Foundation, https://datazone.darwinfoundation.org/en/checklist/?species=1276. Accessed 8 November 2024.