Xerophyte

Leaves

Ephemeral, usually green or reddish only 3-5 mm long.

Seeds

Thick discoid, irregular in outline, wide margined, and beaked at the hilum, tan to grey, 3.5-5.5 mm in diameter.

Roots

Rhizomes commonly present. Central root tuber usually long and roughly cylindrical.

Note

The species was named after John Potts, who managed the mint in Chihuahua, Mexico, collected the original material of the species, and between the years 1842 and 185o sent many cactus collections to E Scheer at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, England (Britton and Rose, 1919-13).

Flowers

Usually orange, pink, yellow with red bases to reddish, appear on early June , 5-6(-9) cm long and 4-5(-6) cm in diameter with petals curving upward and rolled back at sides.. In some flowers the slender pericarpel alone often 5 cm long. Filaments 12-15 mm long, yellow, greenish or purplish. Anthers yellow up to 2 mm long. Style pinkish 17-23 mm long. Stigma lobes 5-8 cream coloured, stout 3-4 mm long. Pericarpel smooth with few small areoles with white hairs and yellow-brown glochids. Flowers open about mid-day and close by 4

Glochids

Yellow or brown, to 3(-5) mm long, numerous in a tight tuft.

Blooming Season

late April to early June. Most plants tend to produce flowers at much the same time, and the flowers may be finished in about one week.

Spines

One to five spines from the upper areoles, 1.5 to 6.5 cm long, whitish, grey or brownish, and black speckled, acicular or somewhat flattened, often rwisted, and downwards pointing. In each areole one spines is longer, while the other are short or different length. Rarely plants of Opuntia pottsiiSN|19900]]SN|19900]] are spineless.

Stem

Segments usually not rooting when touching, round to obovate, often narrowed near base (stipitate), upright, glaucous blue-green (Yellow-green or purplish when stressed), 5-10(-13) cm long, 5-8(-10) cm wide, to 1.2 cm thick, wrinkled under very dry or cold conditions. Commonly plants produces only 6-10 pads and often a short trunklet.

Fruits

Obovoid narrow with slender base, and smooth, greenish to pinkish or reddish purple at maturity, fleshy, juicy, 2.5-4 cm long, 2.5-3cm in diameter flattened and irregular. The pulp is pale greenish and not very sweet. Fruits mature in 2.5-5 (or even more) months.

Areoles

10-16 mm apart, narrowly obovate to nearly circular, 2-3 mm across.