Galapagos Species Database
The Galapagos Species Database shares the information about the species from our Natural History Collections.
Opuntia saxicola
tuna, cactus
Plant arborescent to shrubby, 1-2 m tall; larger terminal joints greenish yellow, round, oblong, and obovate, 17-29 cm long, 12-20 cm wide, 0.5-2.2 cm thick, the leaves conical, 3-4 mm long; aeroles 4-5 mm across, typically 1.5-2.7 cm apart; trichomes present, whitish to reddish; spines variable, mostly pungent, yellow be-coming brown or reddish in age, 14-30 per areole, the longer 3-8 cm long, 0.5-1 mm thick basally, glochids present, yellow, 2-3 mm long; flowers 2.5-3.5 cm broad, 3-4 cm long, yellow; fruit green at maturity, with spines, glochids, and trichomes, globose, 2.5-3.9 cm long, 2.3-3.8 cm broad, the umbilicus depressed, brown; seeds whitish brown, discoid, 2-3 mm long, 1.5-2.5 mm wide, 1 mm thick.
Domain
Eukaryota
Kingdom
Plantae
Phylum
Magnoliophyta
Class
Magnoliopsida (= Dicotyledoneae)
Order
Caryophyllales
Family
Cactaceae
Genus
Opuntia
Species
saxicola
Taxon category: Accepted
Syn.: Opuntia galapageia var. saxicola Backeb.
Origin: Endemic
Distribution: Endemic, In dry habitats from sea level to about 1500 m in the southwestern parts of Isabela island.
- Anderson, E.F. (1967.) An Account of My Cactus Collecting Trip to the Galapagos Islands. Cactus and Succulent J. Amer. 39:186-199.
- Hicks, D.J. Mauchamp, A. (1996) Evolution and conservation biology of the Galapagos Opuntias (Cactaceae). Yearbook Cactus Succulent Soc. Am. 4:
- Howell, J.T. (1933) The Cactaceae of the Galapagos Islands. Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci. 21(5): 41-54.
- 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 Charles Darwin Research Station, unpublished.
- 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).
- Tropicos.org. (2017) Database of Missouri Botanical Garden. Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden. 06 Oct 2017 <http://www.tropicos.org
- Wiggins, I.L. Porter, D.M. (1971) Flora of the Galapagos Islands Standford University Press, Stanford.
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 saxicola", dataZone. Charles Darwin Foundation, https://datazone.darwinfoundation.org/en/checklist/?species=252. Accessed 14 April 2026.