Cactaceae

Opuntia Mill.

First published in Gard. Dict. Abr., ed. 4.: [s.p.] (1754)
This genus is accepted
The native range of this genus is America.

Distribution

Native to:

Alabama, Alberta, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Argentina South, Arizona, Arkansas, Aruba, Bolivia, Brazil Northeast, Brazil South, Brazil Southeast, Brazil West-Central, British Columbia, California, Colombia, Colorado, Connecticut, Costa Rica, Cuba, Delaware, District of Columbia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Florida, Galápagos, Georgia, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Jamaica, Kansas, Kentucky, Leeward Is., Louisiana, Manitoba, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Netherlands Antilles, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Nicaragua, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Ontario, Oregon, Panamá, Paraguay, Pennsylvania, Peru, Puerto Rico, Saskatchewan, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Trinidad-Tobago, Uruguay, Utah, Venezuela, Venezuelan Antilles, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Windward Is., Wisconsin, Wyoming

Introduced into:

Albania, Algeria, Andaman Is., Angola, Ascension, Assam, Austria, Azores, Bahamas, Baleares, Bangladesh, Benin, Bermuda, Bulgaria, Canary Is., Cape Provinces, Cape Verde, Caroline Is., Cayman Is., Central European Russia, China North-Central, China South-Central, China Southeast, Corse, Cyprus, Czechia-Slovakia, DR Congo, East Aegean Is., East Himalaya, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Fiji, France, Free State, Gambia, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Guinea, Gulf of Guinea Is., Hainan, Hawaii, India, Iraq, Italy, Kenya, Korea, Kriti, KwaZulu-Natal, Lebanon-Syria, Lesotho, Libya, Madagascar, Madeira, Malaya, Marianas, Marquesas, Mauritius, Morocco, Myanmar, Namibia, Nansei-shoto, Nepal, Netherlands, New Caledonia, New South Wales, Nicobar Is., North Caucasus, Northern Provinces, Northern Territory, NW. Balkan Pen., Pakistan, Palestine, Portugal, Queensland, Rodrigues, Rwanda, Réunion, Sardegna, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sicilia, Society Is., Somalia, South Australia, South China Sea, Spain, Sri Lanka, St.Helena, Sudan-South Sudan, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Tibet, Transcaucasus, Tuamotu, Tubuai Is., Tunisia, Turks-Caicos Is., Türkiye, Victoria, Vietnam, West Himalaya, Western Australia, Western Sahara, Yemen

Synonyms

Heterotypic Synonyms

Accepted Species

Classification

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Publications

POWO follows these authorities in accepting this name:

  • Govaerts, R., Nic Lughadha, E., Black, N., Turner, R. & Paton, A. (2021). The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-021-00997-6. Scientific Data 8: 215.
  • de Vos, J.M., Eggli, U., Nyffeler, R., Larridon, I., McGinnie, C., Epitawalage, N., Maurin, O., Forest, F. & Baker, W.J. (2025). Phylogenomics and classification of Cactaceae based on hundreds of nuclear genes. Plant Systematics and Evolution 311-28: 1-53.

Flora of Somalia

  • Flora Somalia, Vol 1, (1993) Author: by M. Thulin [updated by M. Thulin 2008]

Flora of Tropical East Africa

  • Gard. Dict., Abr. ed. 4 (1754)

Other Data

Other Kew resources that provide information on this taxon:

Sources

  • EBC Common Names

    • Common Names from Kew's Economic Botany Collection https://www.kew.org/science/collections-and-resources/collections/economic-botany-collection

  • Flora of Somalia

    • Flora of Somalia
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Flora of Tropical East Africa

    • Flora of Tropical East Africa
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Flora of the Cayman Islands

    • Flora of the Cayman Islands
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2026. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2026. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Neotropikey

    • Milliken, W., Klitgard, B. and Baracat, A. (2009 onwards), Neotropikey - Interactive key and information resources for flowering plants of the Neotropics.
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0