Austrocylindropuntia subulata
Austrocylindropuntia subulata
Safety & Hazards
The plant has numerous minutely barbed glochids - these are barbed spines that are usually small to minute and are very sharp and brittle. The glochids are very easily dislodged when the plant is touched and can penetrate the skin where, because of their barbs, they become stuck and are very difficult to see and remove. They can cause considerable irritation and discomfort[1, 2].
Cultivation Details
Austrocylindropuntia subulata is a plant of high elevations in the tropics, where it can be found at elevations up to 3,900 metres[3]. It is native to semi-arid areas with up to 1,200mm annual rainfall, and in areas having cool and dry winters and mild and somewhat rainy summers. It is also very adaptable, growing at sea level where introduced, and in a wide variety of climates, where it also appears to be able to tolerate light frost[4]. Austrocylindropuntia subulata is regarded as invasive in South Africa, East Africa, Australia and more recently in Europe. It can form dense impenetrable patches in invaded roadsides, disturbed land, wastelands, drainage ditches, grasslands, savannah, riversides and sandy stream beds, where it suppresses other vegetation and the long spines can cause harm to people and animals. As a popular cultivated ornamental, the risk of further introduction and subsequent escape from cultivation and spread is high, as it spreads easily from broken plant fragments[4].
Propagation
Seed - Cuttings Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-19. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Austrocylindropuntia+subulata>
Pollinators
Data unavailable
References
- [1]The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. — Huxley. A. · MacMillan Press · 1992 · ISBN 0-333-47494-5 ↩︎Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
- [2]A natural history of the Sonoran Desert — Phillips S.J. & Comus P.W. · University of California Press; Los Angeles, California · 2000 · ISBN 0-520-22029-3 ↩︎
- [3]IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — http://www.iucnredlist.org/ ↩︎A list of plants under threat and facing possible extinction, usually with brief details of the threats and information on habitat.
- [4]Invasive Species Compendium — http://www.cabi.org ↩︎An immense resource - in depth information on over 900 species of invasive plants (it also has information on animals, fungi etc).
- [5]The Cactus Family — Anderson E.F. · Timber Press; Portland, Oregon · 2001 · ISBN 0-88192-498-9 ↩︎An excellent work, giving botanical descriptions of virtually all the cacti, together with their range (but not their habitats) and sometimes also a photo. it also contains a long chapter detailing the many uses of cacti and another on cultivation..