The flower and pads of Opuntia aurea
Golden prickly-pear is narrowly-restricted to a small area of southern Utah and northern Arizona. Perhaps the easiest place to observe this species is within Utah’s Zion National Park if the iNaturalist observations of Opuntia aurea are any indication.
Described as a new species in 1933, Opuntia aurea was first considered by some to be a variant of the widespread beavertail cactus, Opuntia basilaris. One of the properties that immediately distinguishes it (when in flower) is the colouration of the centre-of-the-flower stigmatic lobes; in Opuntia aurea, these are green as shown in today’s photograph, compared to the “white to cream” of Opuntia basilaris. Other features can be sussed out in the Flora of North America’s key to Opuntia.
Additional photographs of Opuntia aurea are available via Opuntia Web, including yellow-flowered morphs.
Good to see you back! I can personally vouch for the abundance of this species in Zion National Park, as they seemed to be everywhere we ventured during our visits to this park. The springtime flora there is amazing. (The rocks aren’t bad either.) When are we going to see your Chilean photo album?
A really striking photograph!
Wow, what a beautiful combination of a flower and cactus. And yes I can clearly see the difference. Thank you
I live in Campbell River, British Columbia, Canada and I don’t think I could grow such a lovely
cactus. I don’t think even in my south east corner of my dining area, maybe!? What a beautiful
plant. Wendy Burke, Campbell River, B.C.
I’m unable to control myself here from commenting on the botany, just how it works in general, where yellow petals are not a distinguishing or even necessary feature of a plant named Opuntia aurea, but the tiny green stigmatic lobes are a distinguishing feature. I shouldn’t complain – there are a lot more subtle features used to distinguish one plant from another.
Commenter Anna: you knew to look for those little green things?
That’s a pretty exciting photo.
The name “Beavertail Cactus” makes me think this beautiful little plant was named by someone from a land of rivers and streams and not by a desert-dweller. What a wonderful picture…So happy to see BPotD in the inbox this morning, thank you !
I certainly didn’t! But there were several different kinds (& colours) of blooming Opuntia along our hiking trails. Hiking goes rather slowly when you have a tendency to photograph everything that’s in bloom. Here’s a photo of one of the many Opuntia we saw… I think it’s Opuntia aurea
We enjoyed seeing a plethora of these beauties in Utah’s Canyonlands last week. Seems they had lots of rain this year. A real pleasure to revisit them in your post. Thank you