• Family : CACTACEAE
  (Cactus Family)
• Family (Hindi name) : NAG PHANI FAMILY / CACTUS FAMILY (नागफणी फैमिली / कैक्टस फैमिली)
• Family (as per The APG System III) : CACTACEAE
• Synonym(s) : Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Mill.; Cactus ficus-indica L.
• Species Name (as per The Plant List) : Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) P. Mill.
• Common name : Prickly Pear
• Vernacular name : Mullu galli (Kannada); Nagajemudu (Telugu); Nagophenia (Oria); Chappathikally, Pattanathukally (Malayalam)
• Habit : Shrub
• Habitat : Dry deciduous forests
• Comments / notes : Naturalized
• Flower, Fruit : Throughout the year
• Distribution :
  • Andhra Pradesh : Anantapur district, Chittoor district, Kadapa district, East Godavari district, Guntur district, Krishna district, Kurnool district, Nellore district, Prakasam district, Srikakulam district, Vishakapatnam district, Vizianagaram district, West Godavari district
  • Telangana : Nalgonda district, Khammam district, Mehboobnagar district
  • Karnataka : Ballari district, Chamarajanagar district, Kolar district, Bengaluru district, Davanagare district, Hassan district
  • Kerala : Wayanad district, Palakkad district, Idukki district, Pathanamthitta district
  • Odisha : Angul district, Balasore district, Bargarh district, Bolangir district, Boudh district, Cuttack district, Deogarh district, Dhenkanal district, Gajapati district, Ganjam district, Kalhandi district, Kandhamal district, Kendrapara district, Keonjhar district, Khurda district, Koraput district, Malkangiri district, Mayurbhanj district, Puri district, Rayagada district,Sambalpur district, Sundergarh district
  • Tamil Nadu : Coimbatore district, Dindigul district, Dharmapuri district, Kanchipuram (Changalpattu-CGP) district, Karur district, Krishnagiri district, Madurai district, Namakkal district, Pudukkottai district, Sivaganga district, Salem district, Tiruchirapalli district, Tiruvannamalai district, Villipuram district, Vellore district
• Native : Brazil, Argentina
• World Distribution : South East America; naturalised in India
• Conservation Status : Not Evaluated (NE)
• Literature : Pullaiah et al., 2007 - Flora of Eastern Ghats Vol. 3; H.O. Saxena & M. Brahmam, 1995- Flora of Orissa Vol. 2; H. O. Saxena and M. Brahmam, 1989 - The Flora of Similipahar (Similipal), Orissa; Sasidharan, N. 2011. Flowering plants of Kerala. DVD, V 2, KFRI; Saldanha & Nicolson, 1976 - Hassan; Saldanha, 1984; Seetharam et al., 2000 - Gulbarga; Gopalakrishna Bhat, 2003 - Udupi; Manjunath et al., 2003 – Davanagere
• Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Raja K Swamy, Deepak Kumar, Arun Singh R. and K. Gopalakrishna Bhat (2019). Flora of Peninsular India. http://peninsula.ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Opuntia vulgaris. Downloaded on 14 November 2024.

Botanical Description

Herbarium Specimen(s)