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The Corroboree

Burbank spineless opuntia - prickly pear


fyzygy

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This could even be it ...? occasional single spine, minus the usual glochids. Whether or not it's a "true Burbank," definitely a keeper. I found it just now on public land a short stroll from my house. 

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Edited by fyzygy
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Apart from Chico and Monterey (Tapuna class – bred for extreme hardiness, with paler, somewhat circular slabs), Burbank’s 1912 catalogue also lists Fresno and Santa Rosa (Ficus Indica class – bred for larger fruit and slabs) as spineless Opuntias. Santa Rosa is a rapid grower, prolific, slabs fat, dark green, 2’ long by 10” wide. Think that's the one I saw yesterday.

 

Burbank’s own trademarked varieties were propagated from cutting, never from seed. (It is unclear whether or not his varieties are self-sterile). 

In 1912 he wrote, in relation to his spineless opuntias: “the name ‘Burbank’ has been so indiscriminately and fraudulently used that it has in a measure lost its true significance.” 

 

Edited by fyzygy
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Cacti were another area of emphasis (Burbank released more than 63 cultivars) from the spineless fruiting and forage types (Opuntia ficus-indica, O. tuna, O. vulgaris) to flowering ornamentals such as O. basilaris, Cereus chilensis, and Echinopsis mulleri. Interest in cacti during 1909–15 rivaled the Dutch Tulip mania with exorbitant fees for a single “slab” of a cultivar, speculative investments, controversy with noted cacti specialists (particularly David Griffiths), and lawsuits by The Burbank Company. Although most cultivars have been lost, Burbank’s reputation as the Father of American Ornamental Breeding remains admirable from critics and devotees alike.

 

https://journals.ashs.org/hortsci/view/journals/hortsci/50/2/article-p161.xml

 

 

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