Opuntia rufida

Opuntia rufida Engelm. (1856)

🌵 Author(s)	George Engelmann
🌵 Published in	Syn. Cact. U. S. 42 (1856) (1856)

Etymology

Botanical Latin rūfĭdus ‘becoming red’ (Eggli & Newton, Etymological Dictionary of Succulent Plant Names. 2004), from Latin rūfus ‘red, reddish’ + Latin –ĭdus ‘tending to’ (Crook & Mottram in Bradleya 20: 63-64. 2002) or a contamination of Latin rūfus ‘red, reddish’ and Latin rŭbĭdus ‘red, reddish’ (Genaust, Etymologisches Wörterbuch der botanischen Pflanzennamen. 3. Auflage. 1996)? For the “dense reddish bristles [glochids]” on the areoles. Not for the color of the flowers (Genaust, Etymologisches Wörterbuch der botanischen Pflanzennamen. 3. Auflage. 1996), which Engelmann described as yellow (“floris flavi”).