Austrocylindropuntia subulata (Eve's needle, Cane cholla)

[= Opuntia subulata, Opuntia exaltata]

Life > eukaryotes > Archaeoplastida > Chloroplastida > Charophyta > Streptophytina > Plantae (land plants) > Tracheophyta (vascular plants) > Euphyllophyta > Lignophyta (woody plants) > Spermatophyta (seed plants) > Angiospermae (flowering plants) > Core Eudicots > Order: Caryophyllales > Familty: Cactaceae > Genus: Austrocylindropuntia

Native to Peru. A declared Category 1 invasive plant in South Africa (under the name Opuntia exaltata). 

Ecological interactions in southern Africa

Herbivores

• Cactoblastis cactorum (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae: Phycitinae). The orange and black striped larvae of this moth eat the parenchymous tissue inside the cladodes of a wide variety of Opuntia species, and to a lesser extent Cylindropuntia and Austrocylindropuntia, including Austrocylindropuntia subulata. It was originally introduced to South Africa for the biological control of Opuntia ficus-indica.

Publications

• Klein H. 2011. A catalogue of the insects, mites and pathogens that have been used or rejected, or are under consideration, for the biological control of invasive alien plants in South Africa. African Entomology 19(2): 515-549.

Text by Hamish Robertson