Opuntia Species, Santa Rita Prickly Pear

On Jul 4, 2016, coriaceous from ROSLINDALE, MA wrote:

As with many succulents, the color will vary with environmental conditions, and is often exceptionally strong when the plant is stressed.

Don't be deceived by the lack of large spines. Many sources say the glochids (tiny hooked spines) are particularly nasty on this species. They embed themselves in any gloves that come into contact with the cactus and then embed themselves in your skin when you next pick them up. Discard any gloves after one use.

On Oct 22, 2014, bepah from Brentwood, CA (Zone 9b) wrote:

Menk, you are not exactly correct. the name Opuntia santarita is an accepted name with Kew Gardens. Reference the following link:
http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/record/tro-5108198

On Oct 29, 2009, Menk from Darling Downs,
Australia wrote:

There seems to be a lot of confusion as to the true identity of the 'Santa Rita' clone. And it is important to note that it is just a selected clone of a species (a cultivar), not a species in its own right. I have seen plants with the 'Santa Rita' label attached to purplish specimens of O. gosseliniana, O. macrocentra, O. chlorotica, and O. violaceae. From a botanists viewpoint, all of the above are probably synoymous taxa, just variable. Even some forms of engelmannii, and a plant of suspect rank called Opuntia "azureus", have purplish segments at times, particularly when grown in full sun. Moreover I have seen miniature plants as well as giant tree pears given the name 'Santa Rita', just because they have very purple pads. My first introduction to Santa Rita was in the old Sunset Book ... read morepublication "Cactus and Succulents - House Plants & Landscaping Ideas in Color", edited by Linda Brandt, Lane Publishing, 1978, which has a fantastic photo of a very large, shining purple bush called 'Santa Rita' on page 10. This is the image I have always carried in my mind as the "true" Santa Rita type. I would be interested to know exactly where this photo was taken, if the original photographer is still alive and can recall the location.

On Mar 31, 2005, nevadagdn from Sparks, NV (Zone 7a) wrote:

I'm not sure if I managed to kill this or not. It certainly looks awful after the winter, and shows no signs of recovery--my other opuntias look awful, too, but they do show signs of recovery. It certainly wasn't poor drainage that did it in at any rate--I live in a desert and the yuccas on either side of this plant look fine.

On Feb 27, 2004, palmbob from Acton, CA (Zone 8b) wrote:

This plant is ALSO confused with Opuntia macrocentra, another nice turquoise species with very similar flowers. A few differences are in the spines: Opuntia macrocentra usually is a fairly spiny plant, often with long, solitary black spines (not always black though) and not purple as often as O santa rita (though it can be); usually this plant has only glochids for spines. Not ever seen any with with long spines. Also, this plant gets fairly tall (as mentioned above) while O macrocentra is usually a shrubbier species that grows more horizontally rather than tall, upright.