Opuntia elata
Salm-Dyck (1834)
Etymology
| 🌵 Author(s) | Joseph zu Salm-Dyck | 🌵 Published in | Hort. Dyck.: 361 (1834) |
Latin ēlātus ‘raised, elevated, high, tall’. The name was already in use when Salm-Dyck, who attributed it to the Berlin Botanical Garden (“Hort[us] Berol[inensis]”), published it. Presumably for the tall stems. Salm-Dyck does not mention this characteristic, but he had not seen the species in habitat. The name could also refer to the erect stem segments (Salm-Dyck: “articulis erectis”).
The name Opuntia elatior (Latin ēlātĭor ‘taller’) was published in 1768 and thus does not refer to this species.
Maarten H.J. van der Meer (2022 Jul 20). Opuntia elata. Dictionary of Cactus Names. Retrieved from https://www.cactusnames.org/opuntia-elata