''Opuntia basilaris'', the beavertail cactus or beavertail pricklypear, is a

cactus A cactus (: cacti, cactuses, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae (), a family of the order Caryophyllales comprising about 127 genera with some 1,750 known species. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, ...

species found in the

southwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A '' compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west— ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. It occurs mostly in the Mojave,

Anza-Borrego Anza-Borrego Desert State Park (, '' AN-zə bə-RAY-goh'') is a California State Park located within the Colorado Desert of Southern California, United States. Created in 1932, the park takes its name from 18th century Spanish explorer Juan Bau ...

, and

Colorado Desert The Colorado Desert is a part of the larger Sonoran Desert located in California, United States, and Baja California, Mexico. It encompasses approximately , including the heavily irrigated Coachella, Imperial and Mexicali valleys. It is home to ...

s, as well as in the

Colorado Plateau The Colorado Plateau is a physiographic and desert region of the Intermontane Plateaus, roughly centered on the Four Corners region of the Southwestern United States. This plateau covers an area of 336,700 km2 (130,000 mi2) within w ...

and northwest

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. It is also found throughout the

Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a mile (). The canyon and adjacent rim are contained within Grand Canyon Nati ...

and

Colorado River The Colorado River () is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The river, the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), 5th longest in the United St ...

region as well as into southern

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

and

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

, and in the western

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

regions along the

Lower Colorado River Valley The Lower Colorado River Valley (LCRV) is the river region of the lower Colorado River of the southwestern United States in North America that rises in the Rocky Mountains and has its outlet at the Colorado River Delta in the northern Gulf of ...

Description

''Opuntia basilaris'' is a medium to small-sized prickly pear

tall, with pink to rose colored flowers. A single plant may consist of hundreds of fleshy, flattened pads. These are more or less blue-gray, depending on variety, long and less than wide and thick. They are typically spineless, but as is typical for ''Opuntia'' species, have many small barbed bristles, called

glochid Glochids or glochidia (: "glochidium") are hair-like spines or short prickles, generally barbed, found on the areoles of Cactus, cacti in the sub-family ''Opuntioideae''. Cactus glochids easily detach from the plant and lodge in the skin, causi ...

s, that easily penetrate the skin. ''Opuntia basilaris'' blooms from spring to early summer.

Taxonomy

One of the first known descriptions of ''Opuntia basilaris'' come from the reports of the explorations and surveys for a railroad route from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean. This expedition followed the 35th parallel through New Mexico, Arizona, and California. In the 4th volume of this report, ''The Botany of the Expedition,'' by

George Engelmann George Engelmann, also known as Georg Engelmann, (2 February 1809 – 4 February 1884) was a German-American botanist. He was instrumental in describing the flora (plants), flora of the west of North America, then very poorly known to Europeans; ...

and John M. Bigelow, ''Opuntia basilaris'' is described as a stout, fan-shaped ''Opuntia'' resembling an open cabbage head, with accompanying illustrations.

Varieties

The species is variable in nature and several names under different ranks have been described. Only four of these are generally accepted. * ''Opuntia basilaris'' var. ''basilaris'' (2n=22) * ''Opuntia basilaris'' var. ''brachyclada'' (2n=22) – Little beavertail pricklypear * ''Opuntia basilaris'' var. ''heilii'' (2n=22) – Heil's beavertail * ''Opuntia basilaris'' var. ''longiareolata'' (2n=22) – Elongated beavertail prickly pear or Grand Canyon beavertail pricklypear * ''Opuntia basilaris'' var. ''treleasei''(2n=33) – Trelease's beavertail prickly pear, Bakersfield cactus (This variety is designated as endangered under the federal

Endangered Species Act The Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA; 16 U.S.C. § 1531 et seq.) is the primary law in the United States for protecting and conserving imperiled species. Designed to protect critically imperiled species from extinction as a "consequence of e ...

and

California Endangered Species Act In 1970 California became one of the first states in the U.S. to implement an act that conserves and protects endangered species and their environments. The California Endangered Species Act (CESA) declares that "all native species of fishes, amph ...

, which means that killing or possessing it is prohibited in California) Some experts consider the Trelease's beavertail to be a full species (Bowen 1987, R. van de Hoek). It is unique among the varieties of ''Opuntia basilaris'' in that the areoles contain spines in addition to the bristles; this indicates that the species does vary a lot in its exterior.

Distribution and habitat

This species of cactus is found in the Southwest US regions including California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, and Northwestern

Sonora Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora (), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is divided into Municipalities of Sonora, 72 ...

, Mexico. This plant can be found in chaparral, desert, and grassland. This cactus grows in well draining mediums composed of sand, gravel, cobble, or even on boulders.

Chemistry

''Opuntia basilaris'' contains 0.01%

mescaline Mescaline, also known as mescalin or mezcalin, and in chemical terms 3,4,5-trimethoxyphenethylamine, is a natural product, naturally occurring psychedelic drug, psychedelic alkaloid, protoalkaloid of the substituted phenethylamine class, found ...

and 4-hydroxy-3-5-dimethoxyphenethylamine.

Uses

The

Cahuilla The Cahuilla, also known as ʔívil̃uqaletem or Ivilyuqaletem, are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American people of the various tribes of the Cahuilla Nation, living in the inland areas of southern California. ...

Native Americans used beavertail as a food staple. The buds were cooked or steamed, and then were eaten or stored. The large seeds were ground up to be eaten as mush. The Diegueño would consume it as a dried fruit after removing the thorns. The

Shoshone The Shoshone or Shoshoni ( or ), also known by the endonym Newe, are an Native Americans in the United States, Indigenous people of the United States with four large cultural/linguistic divisions: * Eastern Shoshone: Wyoming * Northern Shoshon ...

Native American Tribe took advantage of the analgesic properties of this cactus by creating a poultice from the inner mucilage to treat minor cuts.

References

External links

*
Flora of North AmericaRangeMap

Photo gallery

Opuntia basilaris photo gallery at Opuntia Web

Malki Museum
{{Taxonbar, from=Q136763 basilaris Cacti of Mexico Cacti of the United States Flora of the California desert regions Flora of the Sonoran Deserts Flora of Arizona Flora of California Flora of Baja California Flora of Sonora Flora of Utah Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Natural history of the Central Valley (California) Natural history of the Colorado Desert Natural history of the Grand Canyon Natural history of the Mojave Desert Natural history of the Peninsular Ranges Natural history of the Transverse Ranges North American desert flora