Opuntia triacantha Opuntia triacantha Opuntia triacantha is a species of cactus known by the common names Spanish lady, Keys Joe-jumper, Big Pine Key prickly-pear, and jumping prickly apple. It is native to the Caribbean, from Desecheo Island, Puerto Rico, to the Lesser Antilles. This cactus grows prostrate or upright to a maximum length of 60 centimeters. The stem segments are flattened and oval in shape, up to 18 centimeters long by 7 wide. The black-tipped spines are up to 4 centimeters long. The cactus produces yellow flowers year-round. The fleshy red fruit is up to 3 centimeters long by 2 wide. The
Plant functional type Plant functional type Plant functional types (PFTs) is a system used by climatologists to classify plants according to their physical, phylogenetic and phenological characteristics as part of an overall effort to develop a vegetation model for use in land use studies and climate models. PFTs provide a finer level of modeling than biomes, which represent gross areas such as desert, savannah, deciduous forest. In creating a PFT model, areas as small as 1 km are modeled by defining the predominant plant type for that area, interpreted from satellite data or other means. For each plant functional type, a number of