Single Record

PhotoRecords: YES Bret Turner: Saguache Co, 4 km southwest of Moffat, 13 June 2020

Comments: There is only two observations from the Watershed of brittle prickly-pear cactus. The earlier is purely verbal. On 24 Sept 1983, R. A. Bye and E. Bye report the species in "lightly to heavily disturbed sandy soil" among grazed and cultivated fields 0.5 miles E of Capulin along Hwy 15, in association with Lupinus argenteus, Lepidium, Gridelia, Chrysothamnus, Bassia, and Populus angustifolius (SEINet voucher for Lupinus argenteus). The second is a questionable iNaturalist identification and observation (#4953350) from 4 km southwest of Moffatt (Saguache Co), 13 June 2020. Opuntia fragilis is mainly a Four Corners and Great Plains cactus, with locations in Colorado both to the east and the west of the Watershed. Allred et al. (2020) report it only from the extreme northwest of New Mexico, in San Juan Co, but BONAP shows it present in Rio Arriba, Torrance, Santa Fe, and Valencia counties, but no farther south down the Rio Grande drainage. So the species is to be looked for especially in the Lower Basin of the Watershed.