Nopalea cochenillifera (L.) Salm-Dyck, Cactaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Risk assessment results:  High risk, score: 7 (Go to the risk assessment)

Other Latin names:  Cactus cochenillifer L.; Opuntia cochenillifera (L.) Mill.

Common name(s): [more details]

English: cochineal cactus, cochineal nopal cactus, cochineal-plant

French: cochenillier, raquette espagnole

Spanish: nopal chamacuero, nopal de la cochinilla, tunita

Habit:  tree

Description:  "Shrubs or trees up to 4 m tall, with a distinct trunk; joints narrowly elliptic to narrowly obovate, 10-25 cm long, (5-) 7-12 cm wide.  Areoles spineless or rarely with 1-3 weak grayish spines ca. 1 cm long.  Flowers 4-6 cm long, 1.5-2 cm in diameter; outer perianth parts red, sometimes with a green median stripe, erect, 5-10 mm long, 4-8 mm wide, inner perianth parts red, erect, imbricate, 10-20 mm long, 8-12 mm wide; staminal filaments pink, long-exserted, 25-40 mm long; style pink, long-exserted, 25-40 mm long; stigma lobes 6-8.  Berries red, fleshy, 2.5-4 cm long, 2.5-3 cm in diameter"  (Wagner et al., 1999; p. 419).

Habitat/ecology:  In Hawai‘i, "escaped at low elevations"  (Wagner et al., 1999; p. 419).

Propagation:  Seed. Also spread through the dumping of garden waste as pieces of the plant readily take root.

Native range:  "Native range unknown, although most likely southern Mexico or northern Central America, cultivated since ancient times as a host for cochineal insects that provide cochineal dye, now widely grown as an ornamental in warm parts of the world"  (Wagner et al., 1999; p. 419).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Fiji Fiji Islands	Ovalau Island	introduced cultivated	Smith, Albert C. (1981) (p. 272) Voucher cited DA 3002
French Polynesia Marquesas Islands	Fatu Hiva Island	introduced cultivated	Lorence, David H./Wagner, Warren L. (2008)
French Polynesia Marquesas Islands	Nuku Hiva (Nukahiva) Island	introduced cultivated	Lorence, David H./Wagner, Warren L. (2008)
French Polynesia Marquesas Islands	Nuku Hiva (Nukahiva) Island	introduced invasive	Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. (2011) As Opuntia cochenillifera (C. Linnaeus) P. Miller Naturalisée
French Polynesia Marquesas Islands	Ua Huka (Huahuna, Uahuka) Island	introduced cultivated	Lorence, David H./Wagner, Warren L. (2008)
French Polynesia Marquesas Islands	Ua Huka (Huahuna, Uahuka) Island	introduced invasive	Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. (2011) Voucher cited: L. M. Dunn 375 (PAP) Naturalizing
French Polynesia Marquesas Islands	Ua Pou (Huapu, Uapou, Uapu) Island	introduced cultivated	Lorence, David H./Wagner, Warren L. (2008)
French Polynesia Marquesas Islands	Ua Pou (Huapu, Uapou, Uapu) Island	introduced cultivated	Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. (2011) Voucher cited: K.R. Wood 10285 (PAP)
French Polynesia Society Islands	Tahiti Island	introduced invasive	Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. (2011) As Opuntia cochenillifera (C. Linnaeus) P. Miller Naturalisée
French Polynesia Tuamotu Archipelago	Makatea (Ma‘atea) Island	introduced invasive	Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. (2011) As Opuntia cochenillifera (C. Linnaeus) P. Miller Naturalisée
French Polynesia Tuamotu Archipelago	Manihi Atoll		Bishop Museum (U.S.A. Hawaii. Honolulu.) (1967) (voucher ID: BISH 12259) Taxon name on voucher: Opuntia cochenillifera
French Polynesia Austral (Tubuai) Islands	Rapa Island	introduced invasive	Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. (2011) As Opuntia cochenillifera (C. Linnaeus) P. Miller Naturalisée
French Polynesia Austral (Tubuai) Islands	Rurutu Island	introduced invasive	Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. (2011) As Opuntia cochenillifera (C. Linnaeus) P. Miller Naturalisée
Guam Guam Island	Guam Island	introduced cultivated	Stone, Benjamin C. (1970) (p. 431) A few plants grown in gardens.
Guam Guam Island	Guam Island	introduced	Fosberg, F. R./Sachet, Marie-Hélène/Oliver, Royce (1979) (p. 193)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Kaho‘olawe Island		Bishop Museum (U.S.A. Hawaii. Honolulu.) (1939) (voucher ID: BISH 12034) Taxon name on voucher: Opuntia cochenillifera
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Kaua‘i Island	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 419)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Maui Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Oppenheimer, Hank L. (2004) (p. 10) West Maui. Voucher cited: Oppenheimer H10201 (BISH)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	O‘ahu Island	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 419)
Palau Palau (main island group)	Koror Island	introduced	Fosberg, F. R./Sachet, Marie-Hélène/Oliver, Royce (1979) (p. 193)
United States (other Pacific offshore islands) Midway Atoll	Sand Island		Bishop Museum (U.S.A. Hawaii. Honolulu.) (1999) (voucher ID: BISH 659763) Taxon name on voucher: Opuntia cochenillifera

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Guatemala Guatemala	Guatemala (Republic of)	probably introduced invasive cultivated	Standley, Paul C./Williams, Louis Otho (1962) (pp. 24(7/2)213-214) Probably not native in Guatemala, but much planted at low and middle elevations; thoroughly naturalized in many places at middle elevations, up to 1,500 meters or even higher, perhaps the relics of former commercial plantations; often planted for hedges.
Mexico Mexico	Mexico (United Mexican States)	probably native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Singapore Singapore	Singapore (Republic of)	introduced cultivated	Chong, Kwek Yan/Tan, Hugh T. W./Corlett, Richard T. (2009) (p. 65) As Opuntia cochenillifer (L.) Mill.

Also reported from
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
United States (continental except west coast) United States (other states)	USA (Florida)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. (2011)

Control:  See Global Invasive Species Database for management information.

Additional information:
Information from the Global Invasive Species Database.

Additional online information about Nopalea cochenillifera is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Information about Nopalea cochenillifera as a weed (worldwide references) may be available from the Global Compendium of Weeds (GCW).

Taxonomic information about Nopalea cochenillifera may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

References:

Bishop Museum (U.S.A. Hawaii. Honolulu.). 1939. Voucher specimen #BISH12034(Bryan, E.H. Jr s.n.).

Bishop Museum (U.S.A. Hawaii. Honolulu.). 1967. Voucher specimen #BISH12259(Brooks, W.T. 88).

Bishop Museum (U.S.A. Hawaii. Honolulu.). 1999. Voucher specimen #BISH659763(Starr, F. 990505-6).

Chong, Kwek Yan/Tan, Hugh T. W./Corlett, Richard T. 2009. A checklist of the total vascular plant flora of Singapore: native, naturalised and cultivated species. Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, National University of Singapore. 273 pp.

Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. 2011. Base de données botaniques Nadeaud de l'Herbier de la Polynésie Française (PAP). (online resource).

Fosberg, F. R./Sachet, Marie-Hélène/Oliver, Royce. 1979. A geographical checklist of the Micronesian dicotyledonae. Micronesica 15:1-295.

Lorence, David H./Wagner, Warren L. 2008. Flora of the Marquesas Islands. National Tropical Botanical Garden and the Smithsonian Institution. Online database.

Oppenheimer, Hank L. 2004. New Hawaiian plant records for 2003. In: Evenhuis, Neal L. and Eldredge, Lucius G., eds. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 2003. Part 2: Notes. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers. 79:8-20.

Smith, Albert C. 1981. Flora Vitiensis nova: a new flora of Fiji. National Tropical Botanical Garden, Lawai, Kauai, Hawaii. Volume 2. 810 pp.

Standley, Paul C./Williams, Louis Otho. 1962. Flora of Guatemala. Fieldiana: Botany. Vol. 24, Part VII, No. 2. Chicago Natural History Museum. 94 pp.

Stone, Benjamin C. 1970. The flora of Guam. Micronesica 6:1-659.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2011. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. 2011. The PLANTS Database. National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.

Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. 1999. Manual of the flowering plants of Hawaii. Revised edition. Bernice P. Bishop Museum special publication. University of Hawai‘i Press/Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu. 1919 pp. (two volumes).