AusTraits

Opuntia stricta

Explore the data for this taxon in the portal

Family Cactaceae

Taxonomy: Opuntia stricta (Haw.) Haw.

Synonyms: 5 (APC 2026-07-30)
  • Cactus opuntia var. inermis DC. (taxonomic synonym)
  • Cactus strictus Haw. (nomenclatural synonym)
  • Opuntia bentonii Griffiths (taxonomic synonym)
  • Opuntia inermis (DC.) DC. (taxonomic synonym)
  • Opuntia stricta (Haw.) Haw. var. stricta (nomenclatural synonym)
Misapplied names: 1 (APC 2026-07-30)
  • Opuntia vulgaris Mill. (misapplied)

Distribution (APC): WA (naturalised), NT (naturalised), SA (naturalised), Qld (naturalised), NSW (naturalised), ACT (naturalised), Vic (naturalised)

Profiles: APC, Flora of Australia, ALA, iNaturalist, NSW Flora, NT eFlora, SA eFlora, Vic Flora, Florabase, ATRP

Traits

Top source datasets: ABRS_2022 (4), ABRS_2023 (20), ATRP_2020 (2), NHNSW_2014_2 (1), NHNSW_2022 (1), NHNSW_2023 (10), NTH_2022 (4), NTH_2023 (3), RBGV_2022 (4), RBGV_2023 (19), SAH_2022 (4), SAH_2023 (6), WAH_2022_1 (4), WAH_2022_2 (8), WAH_2023_1 (3), WAH_2023_2 (4), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1), Yang_2023 (4). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 24 traits from 104 records in 19 datasets.

Traits by category (click to expand). For categorical traits, the values are listed. For numerical traits, the mean and range are shown.

fire response
flower morphology
  • flower_colour (categorical): yellow_orange (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
fruit morphology
  • fruit_length (numerical): 48.75 mm (40-60 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]
  • fruit_width (numerical): 32.5 mm (25-40 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; RBGV_2023]
  • fruit_height (numerical): 32.5 mm (25-40 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; RBGV_2023]
  • fruit_type (categorical): berry (1) [sources: SAH_2023]
  • fruit_dehiscence (categorical): indehiscent (2) [sources: ABRS_2023; RBGV_2023]
  • fruit_colour (categorical): purple (6) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023; NTH_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]
leaf morphology
  • leaf_length (numerical): 58.25 mm (3-250 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023]
  • leaf_width (numerical): 50.38 mm (0.5-130 mm) [sources: RBGV_2023]
  • leaf_shape (categorical): elliptical (1); obovate (1); terete (4) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023; WAH_2023_1]
  • leaf_margin (categorical): entire (1) [sources: ABRS_2023]
  • leaf_compoundness (categorical): simple (1) [sources: ABRS_2023]
  • leaf_arrangement (categorical): clustered (1) [sources: ABRS_2023]
  • plant_photosynthetic_organ (categorical): cladode (9) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023; NTH_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023; WAH_2023_1; WAH_2023_2]
life history
  • plant_growth_form (categorical): herb (1); palmoid (1); shrub (8); tree (1) [sources: ABRS_2022; ATRP_2020; NTH_2022; RBGV_2022; SAH_2022; WAH_2022_1; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
  • life_history (categorical): perennial (8) [sources: ABRS_2022; NTH_2022; RBGV_2022; SAH_2022; WAH_2022_1; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2023]
  • woodiness_detailed (categorical): woody (8) [sources: ABRS_2022; NTH_2022; RBGV_2022; SAH_2022; WAH_2022_1; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
  • stem_growth_habit (categorical): bushy (1); dense (1); erect (6); sprawling (1); spreading (5) [sources: ABRS_2022; ATRP_2020; NHNSW_2022; NTH_2022; RBGV_2022; SAH_2022; WAH_2022_1; WAH_2022_2]
seed morphology
  • seed_length (numerical): 4.5 mm (4-5 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023]
  • seed_shape (categorical): cylindrical (1); discoid (1); orbicular (1) [sources: ABRS_2023; WAH_2023_1]
whole plant morphology
  • plant_height (numerical): 1.83 m (1.5-2 m) [sources: ABRS_2023; NTH_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023; WAH_2023_2]

Sources

dataset_idn_traitsn_recordsreference
ABRS_20231520Australian Biological Resources Study. Flora of Australia, Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: http://www.ausflora.org.au.
RBGV_20231019VicFlora. Flora of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2023. url: https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/.
NHNSW_2023510N. H. of New South Wales. The Plant Information Network System of The Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust Version 2.0.. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2023. url: https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
WAH_2022_248Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
SAH_202356S. H. of South Australia. eFlora of SA, Electronic Flora of South Australia. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: http://www.flora.sa.gov.au/.
ABRS_202244Australian Biological Resources Study. Flora of Australia, Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: http://www.ausflora.org.au.
NTH_202244D. of Land Resource Management and N. T. of Australia. Northern Territory Flora Online. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: http://eflora.nt.gov.au/.
RBGV_202244VicFlora. Flora of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/.
SAH_202244S. H. of South Australia. eFlora of SA, Electronic Flora of South Australia. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: http://www.flora.sa.gov.au/.
WAH_2022_144Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
WAH_2023_224Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
Yang_202324S. Yang. “Unpublished data: Fire response traits scored from national and state floras and the taxonomic literature, University of New South Wales”. 2023.
NTH_202333D. of Land Resource Management and N. T. of Australia. Northern Territory Flora Online. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: http://eflora.nt.gov.au/.
WAH_2023_133Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
ATRP_202022F. A. Zich, B. P. Hyland, T. Whiffin, and R. A. Kerrigan. Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants, Edition 8. 2020. url: https://apps.lucidcentral.org/rainforest/text/intro/index.html.
Wenk_202222E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant growth forms dataset”. 2022.
NHNSW_2014_211Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. PLantNET: NSW flora online. 2014. url: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
NHNSW_202211N. H. of New South Wales. The Plant Information Network System of The Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust Version 2.0.. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
Wenk_202311E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant life history dataset, University of New South Wales, Sydney”. 2023.