''Opuntia anacantha'' is a species belonging to the family

Cactaceae A cactus (, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1750 known species of the order Caryophyllales. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Greek ...

, native to northern

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

and

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

Description

Shrubby cactus of about 60 cm high and 2.5 wide, normally prostrate, sometimes climbs due to its

adventitious roots Important structures in plant development are buds, shoots, roots, leaves, and flowers; plants produce these tissues and structures throughout their life from meristems located at the tips of organs, or between mature tissues. Thus, a living plant ...

. The dark green segments are flat, narrow and elliptical in shape, about 5 to 40 cm long and 3.5 to 7 cm wide. The areolas are small. Orange or orange yellow flowers 4 cm long.

Taxonomy

''Opuntia anacantha'' was described by Carlos Luis Spegazzini and published in ''Bulletin du Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle'' 1904. ,

Plants of the World Online Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. It was launched in March 2017 with the ultimate aim being "to enable users to access information on all the world's known seed-bearing plants by ...

regarded it as a synonym of ''

Opuntia elata ''Opuntia elata'' is a species of cactus found in Bolivia, Paraguay, southern Brazil, northern Argentina, and Uruguay. , Plants of the World Online accepted three varieties: *''Opuntia elata'' var. ''delaetiana'' F.A.C.Weber *''Opuntia elata'' ...

'' var. ''elata''.

Etymology

''Opuntia'' : generic name that comes from the Greek used by Pliny the Elder for a plant that grew around the city of Opus in Greece. ''anacantha'' : Latin epithet meaning "without thorns".

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q2027526, from2=Q109568206 anacantha Plants described in 1904 Flora of Argentina Flora of Bolivia Taxa named by Carlo Luigi Spegazzini