242Book 1.Indb

42 Plant Protection Quarterly Vol.24(2) 2009 Species 1. Cylindropuntia rosea (DC.) Backeb., Die Cactaceae 1: 197 (1958). Synonymy: Opuntia rosea DC., Prodr. (DC.) Review 3: 471 (1828). Common name: Hudson pear (Australia). The specifi c epithet is derived from the Latin roseus, ‘reddening’ and presumably refers to the rose-coloured or pink fl owers. The common name is after a resident of the The biology of Australian weeds Lightning Ridge area, Mr Hudson, who fi rst brought the problem to the attention 53. Cylindropuntia rosea (DC.) Backeb. and of the then Prickly Pear Destruction Com- Cylindropuntia tunicata (Lehm.) F.M.Knuth mission. A branched shrub cactus with a cylin- A B C drical trunk, most plants low growing, Stephen B. Johnson , John R. Hosking , Robert J. Chinnock and Royce H. but some reaching 1.6 m high and to 3 m B Holtkamp wide (Figure 1). Stem segments rope- A New South Wales Department of Primary Industries, Locked Bag 21, Orange, like, cylindrical, green to grey-green, up New South Wales 2800, Australia. to 90 cm long and 4 cm wide (excluding B New South Wales Department of Primary Industries, 4 Marsden Park Road, spines). Tubercles pronounced, elongate, Calala, New South Wales 2340, Australia. up to 3 cm long and 1 cm wide. Areoles C State Herbarium of South Australia, PO Box 2732, Kent Town, South (small depressions on the tubercle) ellip- Australia 5071, Australia. tic, 3–7 mm long, c. 3 mm wide, with tan- coloured wool and clusters of yellowish- tan glochids (smaller barbed bristles), 1.5–2.5 mm long. Spines 4–8 (up to 20 on older stems), white to silvery, up to 4.5 Nomenclature and descriptions in other countries. Another similar genus cm long on outer segments. Spine sheath Until relatively recently the polymorphic naturalized in Australia in the subfamily white, papery, separating during the fi rst genus Opuntia included many discordant Opuntioideae, Austrocylindropuntia, also year of development. Flowers about 5 cm groups with stems ranging from fl attened has cylindrical stem segments but is read- wide with pink-purple petal-like segments pad-like segments to cylindrical or ovoid ily distinguished from Cylindropuntia by (Figure 2a). Stamens with pink fi laments, ones and variable fl owers, fruit and seed. the absence of the papery sheath on the cream towards the base, and golden an- Today it is generally accepted that these spine. thers. Style red, stigmas pale brownish groups represent distinct genera and, in Cylindropuntia was recognized as a sub- cream to very pale yellow. Fruits solitary, addition to Opuntia, 14 segregate genera genus by Engelmann in 1856 and raised to never forming chains, obovoid (wider to- are now recognized, including Cylindro- generic status by F.M.Knuth in 1935. The wards the apex) ripening yellow, 2–4.5 cm puntia and Austrocylindropuntia. Some of name is derived from the Latin cylindri- long (Figure 3a), with older fruits having these genera, such as Cylindropuntia, were cus meaning cylinder, probably referring fewer spines than younger ones. Seed not previously recognized by some authors at to the shape of the segments, and opuntia developed. subgeneric level within Opuntia. is apparently from the Greek town Opus Cylindropuntia rosea may be a hy- Opuntia and the segregate genera (An- where plants were naturalized or cultivat- brid between C. tunicata and another, as derson 2001) comprise the subfamily Op- ed (Telford 1984, Pinkava 2004). yet, undetermined species (D. Pinkava untioideae within the Cactaceae, with a unique feature of the presence of glochids in the areoles. Glochids are small detachable barbed bristles, usually aggregated in dense clusters, that cause considerable skin irritation and are diffi cult to remove. Pinkava (2004) recognized 35 species of Cylindropuntia, eight of which have naturalized in various parts of Australia (Botanic Gardens Trust 2008). Species of Cylindropuntia are succulent shrubs, most- ly with cylindrical to club-shaped jointed segments and shallow widely spreading roots. Areoles also contain spines with a detachable papery sheath, very obvious in species like C. rosea (DC.) Backeb. and C. tunicata (Lehm.) F.M.Knuth but more obscure in species such as Cylindropuntia fulgida (Engl.) F.M.Knuth var. mamillata (Schott ex Engl.) Backeb. Pulp surrounds the seeds in fruit of species (such as C. tunicata) that produce seed. Cylindropuntia occurs naturally in southern North Amer- ica, Central America and on Caribbean is- lands but many species have naturalized Figure 1. A large fl owering Cylindropuntia rosea plant. Source: M. Goodwin. Plant Protection Quarterly Vol.24(2) 2009 43 personal communication). The vegetative States Department of Agriculture 2008) 2.5–5 mm wide, with a yellow-tan wool similarity between C. rosea and C. tunicata and in Victoria (Department of Primary aging to white or grey and clusters of pale has resulted in some confusion in the iden- Industries Victoria 2008). Often referred yellow glochids 0.5–1.2 mm long. Spines tifi cation and management of both species to as Hudson pear in the opal fi elds area 5–12, yellow-, straw- or tan-coloured aris- in Australia in the past. In the absence of of New South Wales, mainly due to the re- ing from most areoles, 3–6 cm long. Spine fl owering material of C. rosea, Hosking et semblance of this species to C. rosea when sheath yellow- to tan-coloured. Flowers al. (2003) identifi ed C. rosea as C. tunicata. vegetative. about 4 cm wide and with yellow, yellow- Once fl owering material was available this The specifi c epithet is derived from the green or yellow-pink, petal-like segments. was corrected (Hosking et al. 2007). Latin, tunicatus, having a coat or envelope, Stamens yellow. Style green to reddish, referring to the detachable papery spine stigmas green to yellowish green (Figure 2. Cylindropuntia tunicata (Lehm.) sheath. 2b). Fruits solitary, never forming chains, F.M.Knuth in C.Backeberg & F.M.Knuth, A densely branched shrub cactus usu- obovoid, ripening yellow, yellow-green or Kaktus–ABC 126 (1925). ally without a trunk, older plants grow- yellow-brown, often tinged red, 2.5–5 cm Synonymy: Cactus tunicatus Lehm, Nov. ing to 0.3–0.6 m high (Figure 4). Stem long, 0.8–1.5 cm wide, spineless, or with a Stirp. Pug. 1 (a): 13 (-14) (1828); Opuntia segments rope-like, cylindrical, pale green few spines (Figure 3b). Seeds light tan in tunicata (Lehm.) Pfeiff., Enum. Diagn. Cact. to green, 5–20 rarely 25 cm long, 1.5–2.5 cm colour, oval-shaped, 2.5 mm long, 2 mm 170 (1837). Common name: Thistle cholla wide. Tubercles prominent, 2–3 cm long. wide. in the United States of America (United Areoles round to elliptic, 4.5–8 mm long, (a) (b) Figure 2. (a) Cylindropuntia rosea in fl ower has pink-purple fl owers and long white spines (left) and (b) Cylindropuntia tunicata in fl ower has pinkish yellow fl owers and straw-coloured thorns (right). Source: J. Hosking. (a) (b) Figure 3. The fruit of (a) Cylindropuntia rosea (left) and (b) Cylindropuntia tunicata (right). Source: (a) J. Hosking and (b) R. Chinnock. 44 Plant Protection Quarterly Vol.24(2) 2009 Northern Territory in 2007 (Northern Territory Herbarium specimen, DNA D0180923) and from Kapaldo-Cootharaba Station in Queensland in 1973 (Queens- land Herbarium specimen, BRI 12884). Accurate identifi cation of both C. rosea and C. tunicata in New South Wales fi rst occurred in 2003 following collection of fl owering material by Wayne Cherry and John Hosking. These identifi cations were confi rmed when specimens were sent to Don Pinkava (herbarium of Arizona State University) for identifi cation in 2004. Sub- sequently information and duplicate specimens from these collections have been used to identify, or confi rm identifi cation, of these species in other states. Although both species are invasive in the opal mining areas in northern New South Wales, the predominant problem is C. rosea. Increased funding for herbicide control has resulted in signifi cant reduc- tions in the density of infestations, particu- Figure 4. Cylindropuntia tunicata plant with fruit. Source: J. Hosking. larly of C. rosea in the immediate vicinity of Lightning Ridge and the Grawin and Glengarry areas (Walgett Shire Council Distinguishing characters 2027309). There is an earlier record of the 2008). Although both species co-occur in north- species occurring in Victoria at Mittayack western New South Wales, they can be (Hosking et al. 1988) but there is no speci- Distribution distinguished by fl oral and spine charac- men to back this record. Native range teristics (e.g. Botanic Gardens Trust 2008, The first naturalizations of C. rosea Both C. rosea and C. tunicata are native to Figure 2). For example, C. rosea has pink- and C. tunicata in New South Wales are Mexico, where C. rosea is most abundant in purple fl owers in comparison to the yel- likely to have occurred in the Grawin area the central states of Hidalgo, Mexico, Pue- low, yellow-green, to yellow-pink fl owers during the late 1960s (Holtkamp 2006, L. bla and Tlaxcala. The native range of C. tu- of C. tunicata and the spines of C. rosea are Tanner personal communication) but C. nicata also extends to the southern United white compared to the yellow-, straw- or rosea was considered of little concern in States of America (Texas). It is found in tan-coloured spines of C. tunicata. the early 1970s as it infested only a small Ecuador and Chile, but Anderson (2001) Cylindropuntia rosea and C. tunicata area at Grawin (L. Tanner personal com- considered that it was not native to South may also be confused with other natural- munication).

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