The Desert Botanical Garden is in the process of creating a major new planting and exhibit on the Subfamily Opuntioideae. We hope this will be the most complete collection in the world and an important resource for scientists and researchers.
Plants in this subfamily are variable in habit, from tree-like to shrubby to mounding. The stems are usually segmented into distinct joints, with small, ephemeral leaves. Small, minutely barbed bristles in the areoles, called glochids, are characteristic of the subfamily. Flowers are diurnal and solitary, with a short, or absent, floral tube.
Desert Botanical Garden recognizes 16 genera in this subfamily.
- Austrocylindropuntia
- Brasiliopuntia
- Consolea
- Cumulopuntia
- Cylindropuntia
- Grusonia
- Maihueniopsis
- Miqueliopuntia
- Nopalea
- Opuntia
- Pereskiopsis
- Pterocactus
- Quiabentia
- Tacinga
- Tephrocactus
- Tunilla
