Friday, April 22, 2011

Plant of the Week



Prickly pear
Opuntia compressa (Salisb.) Macbr.
scientific name, 2008
Opuntia humifusa (Raf.) Raf.
other common names: Indian fig, eastern prickly pear
Opuntia: an old Latin name used by Pliny, probably derived from Opus, a town in ancient Greece
Compressa: from the flattened stem segments
Cactus family: Cactaceae

Photograph by Thomas Rosburg, Wildflowers of the Tallgrass Prairie: The Upper Midwest, Second Edition

No comments:

Post a Comment