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MaltaWildPlants.com by Stephen Mifsud |
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External Links: |
Opuntia ficus-indica (Prickly Pear) |
Opuntia ficus-indica (CACTACEAE.) Images for this profile are taken from the Maltese Islands at or after year 2000. |
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Nomenclature and Basic Information |
Species name : |
Opuntia ficus-indicaL. Published in Gard. Dict. ed 8, no. 2 (1768) | Synonyms :
(basionym or principal syn.) |
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Plant Family : | Cactaceae
Juss. (The Cactus Family) 9 species from the Cactaceae family are recorded from the Maltese Islands. | English name(s) : | Prickly Pear, Indian Fig, Barbary Fig | Maltese name(s) : | Bajtar tax-xewk, Bajtar tal-Indja, Franċiż | Status for Malta : | Species that was introduced in Malta after year 1492 and spreads to form established, non-invasive populations. It may become become invasive | Frequency : | Very Common Common Frequent Scarce
Rare Very rare Extinct
| Growth form : |
Raunkiaer lifeform [info]: Macro-Phanerophyte (high trees usually over 10m )
Germination [info]: Dicotyledon | Legal Protection [link]: | Not Protected by Law (LN200/2011 or LN311/2006) | Red List (1989) : | Not listed in the Red Data Book of the Maltese Islands | Flowering Time : | May-Jul | Colour of Flowers: | Yellow, and Med | Remarks : | A common Cactus species much used in agriculture for closing field margins which gives the farmer protection from wind and also helps to prevent trespassing into fields. Although it makes delicious fruits, it is not much harvested by farmers. This was introduced from Central America. It is also found as Oputunia ficus-barbarica in some literature. |
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Species Description and Distribution |
Habitat in Europe: |
Cultivated for its edible fruit and as a hedge and widely naturalized |
Preferred habitat in Malta: |
Data will be available in the next update of this website. |
Botanical Description: |
Erect, 3-5 m, with patent branches; joints 20-50 x 10-20 cm, oblong to spathulate-oblong. Leaves 3 mm, subulate; areoles small, whitish; spines usually 0, rarely 1-2, small, pale yellow or white; glochids yellow, numerous, caducous. Flowers 7-10 cm in diameter, bright yellow; filaments pale yellow. Fruit 5-9 cm, ovoid or obovoid, with strongly depressed umbilicus, yellow, red or parti-coloured, edible |
Distributional range: |
Mediterranean region |
Native region outside Europe: |
(Tropical America.) |
Distributional map in Europe and the Mediterranean region (2018):
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Occurrences in Europe. (from Flora Europaea pre year 1993): |
Introduced in  the Balaeric Islands, Corse, Crete, France (incl. Monaco and Channel Islands but excluding Corse), Greece, Spain (incl. Andorra but excl. the Balaerics), Italy (excl. Sicily and Sardignia), ex-Jugoslavia, Doubtful in Portugal |
Occurrences in Europe and the Mediterranean region. (Euro+Med Checklist, 2017) -
Country codes |
[nAE AE(G) nAg nAl nAz(M S) nBl Bl(M) nCa Ca(C F G H L P T) nCo nCr nCt nCy Da Fe nGa(F) -Ge nGr He nHs Hs(G S) nIJ Ir nIt nJu nLe nLi nLS nLu nMa nMd Md(D M P) No nSa ?Si nSi(M S) Su nSy nTn Tu(A) Uk(K)] |
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Submit further info on this species |
Use this form to submit more information on this species or report mistakes in this webpage. If information supplied is taken from a book, journal or website, please provide the corresponding reference or website address. Your email address is only for internal communication. Please report only Maltese locations for plants that indicated as rare or very rare (refer to the Nomenclature section). Please do report mistakes, broken links, technical errors, silly typing / grammar errors, misidentifications or taxonomical updates; this will help to improve the website's accuracy. Thanks you! Fill any of the three sections (A/B/C) below and kindly submit the form. * = required fields.
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