Καταγωγή και εξάπλωση της φραγκοσυκιάς

Καταγωγή και εξάπλωση των ειδών της φραγκοσυκιάς

Περιληπτικά το κεφάλαιο αυτό μας λέει ότι η καταγωγή της φραγκοσυκιάς είναι από την τροπική και υποτροπική Αμερική και ότι πλέον βρίσκεται άγρια η καλλιεργημένη σε μια ποκιλία αγροκλιματικών συνθηκών σε όλη την Αμερικανική ήπειρο και σε άλλες χώρες όπως φαίνεται στον χάρτη.

Επίσης μας λέει τα διάφορα ονόματα που χρησιμοποιούνται για την φραγκοσυκιά σε κάθε χώρα καθώ και ότι:

• το επιστημονικό της όνομα που είναι Opuntia (Οπούντια) δόθηκε από τον Tournefort το 1700 που πήρε υπόψη του την ομοιότητα της, με ακανθώδη φυτά που μεγάλωναν στην Ελληνική πόλη Οπούντια (σημερινή Αταλάντη)  http://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/Λοκροί

Origin and Distribution of Opuntia spp.

Opuntia spp. originated in the tropical and subtropical Americas and, wild or cultivated, they can be found in a wide variety of agroclimatic conditions across the entire American continent. 

The plant has spread further – carried by people as they traded and settled – to Africa, Asia, Europe and Australia, where the cultivated and wild plants continue to provide food and materials.

The cactus pear belongs to the Cactaceae family. Its taxonomy is highly complex for a number of reasons. For example, its phenotypes show high variability according to the prevailing environmental conditions, polyploidy is common, it reproduces either sexually or asexually and there are several interspecific hybrids.

Authors disagree in their classification of cactus pear in the Cactaceae family (e.g. Sánchez Monge, 1991; Scheinvar, 1999; GRIN, 2005).

This text follows the classification proposed by the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN) of the United States Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service, according to which the cactus pear belongs to the genus Opuntia.

The scientific name Opuntia was coined by Tournefort in 1700, in view of their resemblance to spiny plants that grew in the town of Opus in Greece (Scheinvar, 1999; Velásquez, 1998).

Once introduced into Spain from Mexico, the species quickly spread throughout the Mediterranean basin. The first Opuntias were probably cultivated near Seville or Cadiz, the final destination of many travellers and traders from the West Indies (Barbera, 1999).

Today these plants grow wild or are cultivated in southern Spain and around the 
Mediterranean in France, Greece, Israel, Italy and Turkey.

The Arabs took them from southern Spain to northern Africa, where they can be 
found in Algeria, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia.

Opuntia plants are widely distributed throughout the Americas from Canada to Chile: in the southern United States, all Central American and Caribbean countries and the South American countries of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Venezuela.

Wild and cultivated species of Opuntiaalso grow in Angola, Australia, India and South Africa. These countries have more than 5 billion hectares (ha) of arid and semi-arid 
zones  – the most extensive dry lands on of the planet. People living in these environments look for plant species that can adapt, grow and provide food and materials.

Figure  1 shows the distribution of Opuntia worldwide.

Irrespective of the taxonomic classification used in this document, the name cactus (nopalin Spanish) is used to denote the complete plant; cactus pear (tuna, in Spanish) to denote the fruit, and cladode to denote the stems (in Spanish nopalito refers to the tender cladode and pencato the fleshy mature cladodes or ‘leaves’).

The Opuntia species is known by different names in the various countries where it is found. 
The original name, in the Náhuatl language, is nochtli. Notwithstanding, the Spanish renamed the plant chumbera and the fruit higo de las Indias (Indian fig), which today is known as higo chumbo (chumbo fig).

In Italy it is known as fico d’India, in France as figue de Barbarie and in Australia, 
South Africa and the United States, as prickly pear. This is slowly evolving into the name cactus pear, to reduce the negative connotation of the word ‘prickly’ (meaning ‘with spines’). 

In Israel it is known as sabras, meaning ‘spiny outside but sweet inside’. In Eritrea and Ethiopia it is called beles. In India it is called in a local dialect nagphanior anda 
torraor chapathi balli depending on the region. In Brazil it is known as palma forrageira because it is cultivated mainly as forage for livestock