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Opuntia galapageia; photograph (c) Slunky, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Slunky, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-06-17

Opuntia galapageia Hensl.

Galápagos Prickly Pear; Tree prickly-pear

Cactaceae · Galápagos · listed by its genus as a cactus or succulent

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Opuntia galapageia, photograph (c) Slunky, some rights reserved (CC BY)Opuntia galapageia, photograph (c) Slunky, some rights reserved (CC BY)Opuntia galapageia, photograph (c) Naji Love, some rights reserved (CC BY)Opuntia galapageia, photograph (c) Naji Love, some rights reserved (CC BY)Opuntia galapageia, photograph (c) Naji Love, some rights reserved (CC BY)Opuntia galapageia, photograph (c) Naji Love, some rights reserved (CC BY) 57 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Coldest month, mean nightly low
20.5°C
Sep at the habitat, not a floor; extremes not used (sea cell) CHELSA
Warmest month, mean daily high
26°C
Feb, Mar and Apr at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,083mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
35–43DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in the habitat's months, not shifted
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet summers: the rain comes December to April (the habitat's months, not shifted), read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Not shifted: the shift rule does not apply to this habitat. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Opuntia galapageia is a species of cactus. It is endemic to the Galápagos Islands, part of Ecuador. Forms occurring on different islands have been treated as separate species and subtaxa of these species. Opuntia echios, Opuntia helleri, Opuntia insularis, Opuntia megasperma, Opuntia myriacantha and Opuntia saxicola are now sunk within O. galapageia.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Opuntia galapageia", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Opuntia

Opuntia, commonly called the prickly pear cactus, is a genus of flowering plants in the cactus family Cactaceae, many known for their flavorful fruit and showy flowers. Between 8,000 and 9,000 years ago, the Opuntia prickly pear cactus was domesticated in central Mexico. Cacti are native to the Americas, and are well adapted to arid climates; however, they are still vulnerable to alterations in precipitation and temperature driven by climate change. More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Opuntia", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Grouped as a cactus or succulent, listed under the genus Opuntia in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “succulent tree”.

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (833 mm of 1,124 mm) falls in December to April, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 24.5 °C against a yearly mean of 23.0 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere. The habitat lies within 10° of the equator, where the shift rule does not apply, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Rain

1,124 mm in the median year at the habitat, 833 mm of it December to April. Wettest month February at 219 mm, driest month October at 30 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 832 mm to 1,959 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,083 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,124 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, southern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 35 to 43 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 34, the highest 90th-percentile month 44).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 20.5 °C in September (across the grid cells of the range 19.5 °C to 20.7 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 26.4 °C in March (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: none read. The nearest figure is 20.5 °C, the coldest month's mean nightly low, September, in the median year (CHELSA); a month's mean of its nightly lows is warmer than the nights a floor is read from. The daily extremes were read at a weather cell that is mostly sea and are not used.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 66 to 70% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. No cold floor is read without a daily extremes series; the coldest month's mean nightly low named in its sentence is not one. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Group. Listed under the genus Opuntia in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “succulent tree”. A group is taken only where Kew's description of the species agrees with the table's listing. The table gives no figure and no prose; the cold floor is the habitat's alone.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, southern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Opuntia galapageia through the yearWarmest months February, March and April, mean daily high 26 °C; coldest month September, mean nightly low 20.5 °C; 1,124 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA. Habitat months, southern hemisphere.15°20°25°30°°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 35–43RH 66–70%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 67 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C25 / 23–2726 / 24–2826 / 25–2826 / 24–2825 / 24–2724 / 23–2623 / 22–2522 / 21–2422 / 21–2422 / 21–2523 / 22–2523 / 23–26
Night °C23 / 21–2424 / 22–2525 / 23–2524 / 22–2523 / 22–2422 / 21–2321 / 20–2221 / 20–2121 / 20–2121 / 20–2121 / 20–2222 / 21–23
Rain mm214 / 142–339219 / 118–347171 / 99–309136 / 91–24162 / 47–9851 / 38–11245 / 31–10734 / 23–7333 / 18–6230 / 15–5836 / 25–6093 / 70–148
DLI38 / 36–3942 / 40–4243 / 42–4441 / 40–4238 / 37–3936 / 35–3735 / 34–3637 / 35–3939 / 37–4141 / 39–4340 / 38–4138 / 37–38
RH %69 / 65–7568 / 65–7467 / 65–7270 / 66–7469 / 65–7468 / 64–7467 / 64–7467 / 64–7467 / 63–7466 / 62–7266 / 63–7268 / 64–75

The daily extremes were read at a NASA POWER cell that is 0% land: neither it nor the next candidates whose coldest month's mean nightly low is within 2 °C of the median across cells sit in a POWER cell that is mostly land, and the rule reads a cold floor only from a cell that is mostly land, so none is read for this species. Nor is the coldest month's mean nightly low taken as one: it is a mean of a month's lows, not its coldest night. What that cell gave over 44 years: absolute minimum 16.2 °C, 1st-percentile night 18.4 °C, 99th-percentile day 27.5 °C.

How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 67 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (549 records in those cells; 13 more cells hold records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cells are left out), with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1827:1806 (-1.375, -89.675). Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 67 distinct grid cells holding 549 of the 594 in-range records (13 further cells with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1827:1806 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells, though its NASA POWER cell is only 0% land and none of the 11 next candidates within 2 °C of the median was mostly land); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -1.50_-89.375, lapse-corrected +84 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 84 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeGalápagos · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker-0.765, -90.341 · in the densest population, 722 records (100% of those in range)
Kew's description“succulent tree” · “desert or dry shrubland” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 722 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 549 of them in the land cells it reads, of 594 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 164 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 3 km away. 12 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 128 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 722 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Opuntia galapageia, photograph 1did not loadOpuntia galapageia, photograph 2did not loadOpuntia galapageia, photograph 3did not loadOpuntia galapageia, photograph 4did not loadOpuntia galapageia, photograph 5did not loadOpuntia galapageia, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Slunky, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Naji Love, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Croton scouleri Croton scouleri Euphorbiaceae Photo: CC BY, Naji LoveGossypium darwinii Gossypium darwinii Darwin's Cotton Photo: CC0, author not statedAlternanthera filifolia Alternanthera filifolia Three-leafed chaff flower Photo: CC BY, Jacob SaucierJasminocereus thouarsii Jasminocereus thouarsii Candelabra Cactus Photo: CC BY, SlunkyAlternanthera echinocephala Alternanthera echinocephala Sea-urchin joyweed Photo: CC BY, Mike BradyVolkameria mollis Volkameria mollis Glorybower Photo: CC BY, Zihao Wang

Other Opuntia 93 in the reference

Opuntia aciculata Opuntia aciculata Chenille prickly-pear Photo: CC BY-SA, Juan Cruzado CortésOpuntia × aequatorialis Opuntia × aequatorialis Ecuadorian Pricklypear Photo: CC BY, Jacob SaucierOpuntia × alta Opuntia × alta Texas Plains Pricklypear Photo: CC BY-SA, Turner BrockmanOpuntia anahuacensis Opuntia anahuacensis Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, Jamie KingscottOpuntia arechavaletae Opuntia arechavaletae Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, Diogo LuizOpuntia arenaria Opuntia arenaria Cactaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, user:sadambioOpuntia atrispina Opuntia atrispina Border Prickly-pear Photo: CC BY-SA, Turner BrockmanOpuntia auberi Opuntia auberi Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, WildLife MxOpuntia aurantiaca Opuntia aurantiaca Jointed pricklypear Photo: CC BY, Corey O'BrienOpuntia aurea Opuntia aurea Golden Prickly-pear Photo: CC BY, Andrew DudleyOpuntia aureispina Opuntia aureispina Golden-spined prickly-pear Photo: CC0, Robert CreechOpuntia austrina Opuntia austrina Devil's-Tongue Photo: CC0, author not stated all 94 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Opuntia galapageia subsp. megasperma; Opuntia galapageia var. barringtonensis; Opuntia galapageia var. brossettii; Opuntia galapageia var. inermis; Opuntia galapageia var. megasperma and 8 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Cactaceae
Described by
Hensl.
Native to
Galápagos
Wild records
722 in range · 164 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 200 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (200 at a herbarium; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -1.50_-89.375, lapse-corrected +84 m at 6.5 °C/km; read, and set aside: NASA POWER's cell is mostly sea (0% land), so no cold floor is shown
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 7 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

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