Invasiveness Assessment - Rope cactus (Cylindropuntia imbricata) in Victoria
Back | Table | Feedback
Plant invasiveness is determined by evaluating a plant’s biological and ecological characteristics against criteria that encompass establishment requirements, growth rate and competitive ability, methods of reproduction, and dispersal mechanisms.
| Each characteristic, or criterion, is assessed against a list of intensity ratings. Depending upon information found, a rating of Low, Medium Low, Medium High or High is assigned to that criterion. Where no data is available to answer a criterion, a rating of medium (M) is applied. A description of the invasiveness criteria and intensity ratings used in this process can be viewed here. |
The following table provides information on the invasiveness of Rope cactus - Devil's rope pear
A more detailed description of the methodology of the Victorian Weed Risk Assessment (WRA) method can be viewed below:
Victorian Weed Risk Assessment (WRA) method (PDF - 630 KB)
Victorian Weed Risk Assessment (WRA) method (DOC - 1 MB)
To view the information PDF requires the use of a PDF reader. This can be installed for free from the Adobe website (external link).
Common Name: Rope cactus - Devils rope pear
Scientific name: Cylindropuntia imbricata
| Question | Comments | Rating | Confidence |
| Establishment | |||
| Germination requirements? | Unknown; Vegetative propagation may only be dependent on water. | M | L |
| Establishment requirements? | Overgrazing is seen as a form of passive dispersal as it creates gaps where seeds or vegetative propagules can establish. In the United States overgrazing and suppression of fire has seen an increase in the species (Halstead 2002). Therefore the species appears to have a requirement for bare ground to establish. | ML | MH |
| How much disturbance is required? | Invades grassland (Carr, Yugovic & Robinson 1992). | MH | MH |
| Growth/Competitive | |||
| Life form? | Other; shrub or tree-like cactus (Kinraide 1978). | L | H |
| Allelopathic properties? | No allelopathic properties have been described for this species. | L | M |
| Tolerates herb pressure? | The species can be affected by rabbits, rodents and cattle especially during drought or after being burnt (Bunting & Wright 1976). In the United States overgrazing and suppression of fire has seen an increase in the species (Halstead 2002). The species has been used as emergency fodder in times of drought but first needs the spines removed (Sawyer et al 2001). The species is under some level of bio-control by the Cochineal insect (Dactylopious tomentosus) in Australia (North West Weeds 2007). | MH | H |
| Normal growth rate? | Cacti in general a slow growing (Sawyer et al 2001). Comparatively slow-growth rate (North West Weeds 2007). | ML | MH |
| Stress tolerance to frost, drought, w/logg, sal. etc? | It’s range in the United States has been found to extend within areas that experience mean January temperatures of greater than -1ºC (Kinraide 1978). Therefore the species can survive temperatures below freezing and therefore is viewed as tolerant of frost if not freezing. Used as emergency feed during a drought can therefore tolerate of drought (Endecott et al 2005). The impact of fire has been found to be related to size of the plant with almost three times greater mortality of those with a height below 60 cm than those above and fire can also leave the plant exposed to herbivory (Bunting & Wright 1976; Bunting, Wright & Neuenschwander 1980). Some plants can survive fire therefore the species displays some tolerance. | MH | H |
| Reproduction | |||
| Reproductive system | The species can reproduce sexually, producing fruit, however it is reported to be self-incompatible (McFarland, Kevan & Lane 1989). The species is capable of vegetative reproduction through pseudovivpary and cladodes (Palleiro, Mandujano & Golubov 2006). | H | H |
| Number of propagules produced? | Reported to produce numerous seeds, in a study by McFarland et al (1989) six plants had a total of 59 flowers which would mean on average approximately 10 flowers per plant and the control flowers became fruits which contained an average of 62 seeds with a maximum of 215 therefore an average seed production would be in the range of 600 but maximum could be more than 1,000 and possibly more than 2,000. In addition to sexual reproduction the species is also capable of producing vegetative propagules. | MH | MH |
| Propagule longevity? | Unknown; vegetative reproduction is reported to be the dominant method of spread by the species however (Allen et al 1991). | M | L |
| Reproductive period? | No specific data for this species, however the majority of other Cactaceae sp. live longer than 10 years, and can reproduce vegetatively during this time (Bowers, Webb & Rondeau 1995). | H | M |
| Time to reproductive maturity? | Unknown; It would likely depend if the plant established from a seed of vegetative propagule and would be capable of producing vegetative propagule before seeds. | M | M |
| Dispersal | |||
| Number of mechanisms? | Potentially dispersed externally and internally by animals (Allen et al 1991). Dispersed by floodwaters and strong winds (North West Weeds 2007). | MH | M |
| How far do they disperse? | Unknown. | M | L |
Feedback
Do you have additional information about this plant that will improve the quality of the assessment?
If so, we would value your contribution. Click on the link to go to the feedback form.
© State of Victoria (Agriculture Victoria) 1996 - .
This work, Victorian Resources Online, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. You are free to re-use the work under that licence, on the condition that you credit the State of Victoria (Agriculture Victoria) as author, indicate if changes were made and comply with the other licence terms.
The licence does not apply to ‘branding’ or some ‘images or photographs’ that may be owned by third parties. We ask you to seek prior approval to use images using the VRO feedback form. Access to higher quality images can also be provided on request.
This page was last updated on .