Sunday, September 03, 2006

Flowering Opuntia fragilis

With its dark green pads and reddish-brown spines the Opuntia fragilis (Butte Co, Nebraska) plant is beautiful in itself, but the yellow flowers, tinted red basally, with its red filaments, yellow anthers, and green stigma lobes are absolutely stunning.

Opuntia fragilis flower
Opuntia fragilis flower

The plant only set a handful of flowers this summer, which was a bit disappointing compared to last years bombastic display. I suspect it’s related to the plant being transplanted in the spring.

Group of Opuntia fragilis plants
Group of Opuntia fragilis plants

Go to the overview of Opuntias flowering in 2006.

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