Opuntia atrispina Opuntia atrispina Opuntia atrispina is a cactus species in the "Opuntia" genus. It has limited distribution in the United States. In Texas it can be found from near Uvalde to Del Rio/Langtry—a small strip of area just 50 miles long. The flowers on these small shrubs are special because they open pale yellow (sometimes almost white) and darken with age to rose. Thus, the plants can be adorned with flowers of multiple colors: cream, yellow, salmon, and rose. Newly opened flowers can even have a hint of green in the middle. The spines too are special because they are yellowish
Opuntia readily between species. This can make classification difficult, yielding a reticulate phylogeny where different species come together in hybridization. Also, not all species listed here may actually belong in this genus, meaning that "Opuntia" is not a monophyletic group. "Opuntia" also has a tendency for polyploidy. The ancestral diploid state was 2n=22, but many species are hexaploid (6n = 66) or octaploid (8n = 88). Chollas, now recognized to belong to the distinct genus "Cylindropuntia", are distinguished by having cylindrical, rather than flattened, stem segments with large barbed spines. The stem joints of several species, notably the jumping cholla ("Cylindropuntia