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Opuntia sulphurea; photograph author not stated, no rights reserved CC0author not stated, no rights reserved · observed growing wild · 2026-09-21

Opuntia sulphurea G.Don ex Salm-Dyck

Sulphur cactus

Cactaceae · Bolivia, Argentina Northeast +3 · listed by its genus as a cactus or succulent

Cited as Kew's World Checklist cites it, Opuntia sulphurea G.Don ex Salm-Dyck: GBIF's backbone key for this page carries the name with another author, G.Don ex Loudon.

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Opuntia sulphurea, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedOpuntia sulphurea, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedOpuntia sulphurea, photograph (c) RAP, some rights reserved (CC BY)Opuntia sulphurea, photograph (c) Rocío Esmeralda Pose, some rights reserved (CC BY)Opuntia sulphurea, photograph (c) Rocío Esmeralda Pose, some rights reserved (CC BY)Opuntia sulphurea, photograph author not stated, no rights reserved 59 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-2.4°C
Record low -8.0 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
26°C
Jan and Dec at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
584mm
7 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
20–46DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  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 May to September (November to March at the habitat), read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Opuntia sulphurea falls under the Opuntia, or prickly pear, genus within the family Cactaceae named such because of their round shape, green color, and long thick spines. Opuntia sulphurea is the widest spread of the Opuntia that can be found in and around Argentina, occupying mostly arid areas of the region from the plains in the Western portion of Argentina up to much higher altitudes on the Eastern side of the Andes mountain range. As a result of its ability to survive in such a diverse array of environments there are several subspecies of O. sulphurea that are identifiable based on the number of spine per areole, for example. A commonality across the three is a bright yellow flower, often considered to be the color of sulfur, from which the species name is derived. More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Opuntia sulphurea", 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 subshrub or shrub”.

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (456 mm of 579 mm) falls in November to March, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 19.8 °C against a yearly mean of 15.2 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: May to September.

Rain

579 mm in the median year at the habitat, 456 mm of it November to March. Wettest month January at 122 mm, driest month June at 7 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 254 mm to 1,139 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 584 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 579 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: 20 to 46 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 14, the highest 90th-percentile month 52).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -2.4 °C, the absolute minimum -8.0 °C, 703 frost nights in 44 years, 16.0 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 36.9 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 3.6 °C in July (across the grid cells of the range -1.0 °C to 7.6 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 26.1 °C in January (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -2.4 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 52 to 59% 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. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected -184 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. 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 subshrub or shrub”. 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 sulphurea through the yearWarmest months January and December, mean daily high 26 °C; coldest month July, mean nightly low 3.6 °C; 579 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, southern hemisphere.-10°0°10°20°30°40°frost36.9° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-8.0° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250mm rainDLI 20–46RH 52–59%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 639 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C26 / 17–3225 / 17–3023 / 17–2820 / 16–2417 / 14–2116 / 12–2015 / 11–2017 / 13–2219 / 15–2322 / 17–2724 / 18–2926 / 18–31
Night °C16 / 8–2115 / 8–2014 / 7–1811 / 5–157 / 2–125 / 0–94 / -1–85 / 0–97 / 2–1110 / 5–1513 / 6–1715 / 8–20
Rain mm122 / 37–23298 / 35–18685 / 35–15830 / 13–8115 / 4–367 / 2–2510 / 2–2510 / 3–2817 / 6–4834 / 11–8154 / 20–13297 / 27–190
DLI44 / 39–5141 / 36–4534 / 30–4027 / 23–3622 / 17–3420 / 14–3222 / 16–3328 / 22–3735 / 30–4241 / 37–4745 / 40–5146 / 40–52
RH %57 / 49–6558 / 50–6559 / 54–6558 / 53–6356 / 48–6156 / 43–6054 / 43–5852 / 46–5752 / 48–5753 / 48–5954 / 48–6055 / 48–63
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 639 grid cells holding the 1367 in-range records, 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 2456:2305 (-32.825, -64.725). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -8.0 °C, 1st-percentile night -2.4 °C, 99th-percentile day 36.9 °C. 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 639 distinct grid cells holding 1367 of the 1367 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2456:2305 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -33.00_-65.000, lapse-corrected -184 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 720 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.
NativeBolivia, Argentina Northeast, Argentina South, Argentina Northwest, Uruguay · introduced: Queensland · 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-33.017, -68.94 · in the densest population, 758 records (53% of those in range)
Kew's description“succulent subshrub or shrub” · “desert or dry shrubland” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 1441 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 1367 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 398 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 73 km away. 53 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 74 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 inside the densest 4° block of the 1441 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 sulphurea, photograph 1did not loadOpuntia sulphurea, photograph 2did not loadOpuntia sulphurea, photograph 3did not loadOpuntia sulphurea, photograph 4did not loadOpuntia sulphurea, photograph 5did not loadOpuntia sulphurea, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0 (3); (c) RAP, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Rocío Esmeralda Pose, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).

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

Ligaria cuneifolia Ligaria cuneifolia Loranthaceae Photo: CC BY, RAPParasenegalia visco Parasenegalia visco Visite Photo: CC BY, Tomás TamagnoPhilibertia gilliesii Philibertia gilliesii Apocynaceae Photo: CC BY, Matias BaranzelliAloysia citrodora Aloysia citrodora Lemon beebrush Photo: CC BY, GERMAN LEONEL SARMIENTO CRUZTillandsia argentina Tillandsia argentina Bromeliaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedEchinopsis aurea Echinopsis aurea Cactaceae Photo: CC0, author not stated

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 Cactus sericeus; Cactus sulphureus; Opuntia albisetosa; Opuntia brachyacantha; Opuntia coerulea and 15 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Cactaceae
Described by
G.Don ex Salm-Dyck
Native to
Bolivia, Argentina Northeast, Argentina South +2
Wild records
1441 in range · 398 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 2026-10-22GBIF's key 7283247 is Opuntia sulphurea G.Don ex Loudon; the page links Kew's Opuntia sulphurea G.Don ex Salm-Dyck, and the name is cited as Kew cites it
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; 71 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (41 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 30 at a zoo; 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 -33.00_-65.000, lapse-corrected -184 m at 6.5 °C/km
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 21 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

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