Opuntia elatior

Mill.

Fafdo-Thor

Cactaceae Edible: Fruit 1,351 iNaturalist observations

iNaturalist· cc-by-nc

Description

A cactus. It is shrubby and forms clumps. They can be 5 m high. The stem segments are oblong and olive green. They are 10-40 cm long. There are 2-8 spines which are like needles and dark brown. They are 2-7 cm long. The flowers are yellow with red stripes. They are 5 cm across. The fruit are oval and red. They are fleshy.

Edible Uses

The ripe sweet fruits are eaten raw after removing the spines, or roasted.

Traditional Uses

The ripe fruit are sweet and eaten raw after removing the spines. They are also roasted.

This uses section is brief — help expand it

Distribution

A tropical plant. In the Himalayas it grows up to 2,000 m above sea level.

Where It Grows

Andes, Antilles, Asia, Australia, Bangladesh, Canary Is., Caribbean, Central America, Colombia, Costa Rica, Himalayas, India, Kenya, Morocco, Myanmar, Northeastern India, Panama, SE Asia, South America, Spain, Trinidad-Tobago, Tunisia, Venezuela,

Production

In India in the Ghats fruit are available January to July.

Synonyms

Cactus elatior (P. Miller) WilldenowOpuntia bergeriana F.A.C. Weber ex A. BergerOpuntia nigricans Haw.and others

Also Known As

Agfanta, Fanta, Hathia thor, Nagphani, Nivandga, Nivdung, Phadyanivadung, Phansavar, Sabarbond

References (16)

Ambasta, S.P. (Ed.), 2000, The Useful Plants of India. CSIR India. p 411
Anderson, E.F., 2001, The Cactus Family, Timber Press. p 497
Gard. dict. ed. 8: Opuntia no. 4. 1768
GAMMIE, (As Opuntia nigricans)
GUPTA & KANODIA, (As Opuntia nigricans)

Show all 16 references

http://iscmumbai.maharashtra.gov.in/floristic%20survey.html
Jadhav, R., et al, 2015, Forest Foods of Northern Western Ghats: Mode of Consumption, Nutrition and Availability. Asian Agri-History Vol. 19, No. 4: 293-317
Kew Plants of the World Online
Kiran, K. C., et al, 2019, Diversity and Seasonal Availability of Potential Wild Edible Plants from Vidarbha Region of Maharashtra State, India. Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2019) 8(2): 1434-1446
Kuvar, S. D. & Shinde, R. D., 2019, Wild Edible Plants used by Kokni Tribe of Nasik District, Maharashtra. Journal of Global Biosciences. Volume 8, Number 2, 2019, pp. 5936-5945
Lopez-Diago, D. & Garcia, N., 2021, Wild edible fruits of Colombia. Biota ColomBiana 22 (2) p 34
Prachi, K., et al, 2012, Underutilized wild fruits of North Maharashtra. Journal of Research in Plant Sciences. (2012) 1:071-076
Pullaiah, Y., Krishnamurthy, K. V. & Bahadur, B., (Eds.), 2016, Ethnobotany of India, Volume 1: Eastern Ghats and Deccan.
Reddy, B. M., 2012, Wild edible plants of Chandrapur district, Maharashtra, India. Indian Journal of Natural Products and Resources. 3(1) pp 110-117
Shah, G.L., 1984, Some economically important plant of Salsette Island near Bombay. J. Econ. Tax. Bot. Vol. 5 No. 4 pp 753-765
Syn. pl. succ. 189. 1812 (As Opuntia nigricans)