DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Opuntia humifusa | Eastern Prickly-Pear 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION : 
Eastern prickly-pear cactus occurs in the Midwest, East, South, and Southwest.
It is distributed across South Dakota, Minnesota, and southernmost
Ontario to Massachusetts and south to the Gulf States, Colorado, New
Mexico, Arizona, and Mexico [10,13,14].  Disjunct populations occur near
Great Falls, Montana, and in Utah County, Utah [2].


ECOSYSTEMS : 
   FRES13  Loblolly - shortleaf pine
   FRES15  Oak - hickory
   FRES16  Oak - gum - cypress
   FRES18  Maple - beech - birch
   FRES29  Sagebrush
   FRES30  Desert shrub
   FRES31  Shinnery
   FRES32  Texas savanna
   FRES33  Southwestern shrubsteppe
   FRES35  Pinyon - juniper
   FRES38  Plains grasslands
   FRES39  Prairie
   FRES40  Desert grasslands


STATES : 
     AK  AZ  AR  CO  CT  DE  FL  GA  IL  IN
     IA  KS  KY  LA  MD  MA  MI  MN  MS  MO
     MT  NE  NH  NJ  NC  OH  OK  PA  RI  SC
     SD  TN  TX  UT  VT  VA  WV  WI  ON  MEXICO


ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS : 
     ASIS  BAND  BITH  BLRI  BUFF  CACO
     CAHA  CALO  CHCH  COLO  CUIS  DEWA
     EVER  FIIS  GATE  GWMP  GUMO  GUIS
     HOBE  HOSP  INDU  MACA  NATR  OBRI
     PAIS  PIPE  RICH  ROMO  WICR  WICA


BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS : 
    7  Lower Basin and Range
   12  Colorado Plateau
   13  Rocky Mountain Piedmont
   14  Great Plains
   16  Upper Missouri Basin and Broken Lands


KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS : 
   K023  Juniper - pinyon woodland
   K027  Mesquite bosque
   K038  Great Basin sagebrush
   K039  Blackbrush
   K040  Saltbush - greasewood
   K044  Creosote bush - tarbush
   K045  Ceniza shrub
   K046  Desert: vegetation largely lacking
   K053  Grama - galleta steppe
   K054  Grama - tobosa prairie
   K058  Grama - toboas shrubsteppe
   K059  Trans-Pecos shrub savanna
   K060  Mesquite savanna
   K062  Mesquite - live oak savanna
   K065  Grama - buffalograss
   K066  Wheatgrass - needlegrass
   K067  Wheatgrass - bluestem - needlegrass
   K068  Wheatgrass - grama - buffalograss
   K069  Bluestem - grama prairie
   K070  Sandsage - bluestem prairie
   K071  Shinnery
   K072  Sea oats prairie
   K074  Bluestem prairie
   K075  Nebraska sandhills prairie
   K076  Blackland prairie
   K077  Bluestem - sacahuista prairie
   K081  Oak savanna
   K082  Mosaic of K074 and K100
   K084  Cross Timbers
   K085  Mesquite - buffalograss
   K087  Mesquite - oak savanna
   K088  Fayette prairie
   K089  Black Belt
   K090  Live oak - sea oats
   K091  Cyress savanna
   K099  Maple - basswood forest
   K100  Oak - hickory forest
   K102  Beech - maple forest
   K104  Appalachian oak forest
   K110  Northeastern oak - pine forest
   K111  Oak - hickory - pine forest
   K112  Southern mixed forest
   K114  Pocosin
   K115  Sand pine scrub


SAF COVER TYPES : 
    24  Hemlock - yellow birch
    25  Sugar maple - beech - yellow birch
    26  Sugar maple - basswood
    27  Sugar maple
    40  Post oak - blackjack oak
    42  Bur oak
    45  Pitch pine
    52  White oak - black oak - northern red oak
    60  Beech - sugar maple
    66  Ashe juniper - redberry (Pinchot) juniper
    67  Mohrs ("shin") oak
    68  Mesquite
    69  Sand pine
    71  Longleaf pine - scrub oak
    72  Southern scrub oak
    74  Cabbage palmetto
    75  Shortleaf pine
    76  Shortleaf pine - oak
    78  Virginia pine - oak
    79  Virginia pine
    80  Loblolly pine - shortleaf pine
    81  Loblolly pine - shortleaf pine
    82  Loblolly pine - hardwood
    85  Slash pine - hardwood
   220  Rocky Mountain juniper
   239  Pinyon - juniper
   240  Arizona cypress
   241  Western live oak
   242  Mesquite


SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES : 
NO-ENTRY


HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES : 
Eastern prickly-pear cactus flourishes in open desert areas where other
vegetation is lacking [1].  It is also prominent in seabeach and other
dune communities [22,26].  Conover [8] lists eastern prickly-pear cactus as an
indicator species of prairie habitat.  It has not been listed as an
indicator of dominance or subdominance in habitat typings.

Associated species:  Eastern prickly-pear cactus is not associated with the
presence of any one species or genera of other plants, except those also
occurring in open areas [2].

Related categories for Species: Opuntia humifusa | Eastern Prickly-Pear