Opuntia humifusa (Large flowered prickly pear, Creeping prickly pear)

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: Opuntia

A declared Category 1 invasive plants in South Africa.

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, including Opuntia humifusa. It was introduced to South Africa for the biological control of Opuntia ficus-indica.

Text by Hamish Robertson