Cylindropuntia tunicata. Flora of the Canary Islands. Cacti and succulents in the Canary Islands

Adenium obesum

Cylindropuntia tunicata (Lehm.) F.M.Knuth

Burdock

A species native to deserts such as those in Mexico and Arizona, extremely drought-tolerant and adapted to very poor soils. Like all cacti, it is highly sun-loving, which is why it thrives best in sunny locations without any pre-existing tree cover. This species also has the distinctive feature of being resistant to frost and fire.

Se reproduce principalmente de modo vegetativo mediante un curioso mecanismo que consiste en poseer zonas en sus tallos que son muy frágiles, de modo que cuando el tallo tiene ya gran peso o bien por contacto de un animal, el tallo se quiebra por ese punto de rotura y cae al suelo rodando o es transportado por el animal enganchado a su piel.

It reproduces mainly vegetatively through a curious mechanism whereby certain areas of its stems are very fragile, so that when the stem becomes too heavy or comes into contact with an animal, it breaks at that point and falls to the ground, rolling along, or is carried away by the animal, caught on its fur.

The stems are long and slender and form clusters in the shape of a bush or compact thicket up to one metre high. The most distinctive feature of this cactus is its extremely long, hard spines. This cactus has been included in the Spanish Catalogue of Invasive Alien Plants due to its potential to colonise areas, which threatens native species with extinction.

Its high level of aggressiveness, due to its enormous, extremely hard spines that are shaped like fishhooks, meant that in its countries of origin it was used as a boundary marker to prevent vermin from gaining access.

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Adenium obesum

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