Opuntia ficus-indica
(L.) Mill. (1768)
Etymology
| 🌵 Author(s) | Philip Miller |
| 🌵 Basionym | Cactus ficus-indica (1753) |
| 🌵 Basionym author(s) | Carl Linnaeus |
| 🌵 Type of | Ficindica |
Latin ficus ‘fig’ + Latin Indicus ‘Indian, West Indian, American’. The second part of the name refers to the occurrence in America. The first part is usually interpreted as a reference to the edible fruits, but as Helmut Genaust (Etymologisches Wörterbuch der botanischen Pflanzennamen. 3. Auflage. 1996) points out, the name ficus was used for several unrelated plant species with succulent leaves (or, in this case, leaf-like flattened stems) similar to those of some fig (Ficus L.) species.
The species is known in Quechua as tunas (Academia Mayor de la Lengua Quechua de Qosqo, Diccionario: Quechua-Español-Quechua. Segunda edicÃon. 2005).
Maarten H.J. van der Meer (2022 Jul 19). Opuntia ficus-indica. Dictionary of Cactus Names. Retrieved from https://www.cactusnames.org/opuntia-ficus-indica