Opuntia tuna (L.) Mill., Gard. Dict., ed. 8: n 3. 1768; Opuntia dillenii (Ker Gawl.) Haw., Suppl. Pl. Succ. 79. 1819; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. Ind. 2: 657. 1879; Parker, For. Fl. Punj. ed. 1: 259. 1918 (Reprint 1973); Fl. China @ eFloras.org 13: 210; keralaplants.in; Cactus dillenii Ker Gawl., Bot. Reg. 3: t. 255. 1818; Opuntia stricta var. dillenii (Ker Gawl.) L. Benson, Cact. Succ. J. (Los Angeles) 41: 126. 1969.

Shrubby, branched from the base, sprawling or erect, 1-2 m tall, trunk absent or short. Stem joints flat, fleshy, green to grey-green, glaucous, obovate, elliptic-obovate to circular, 10-30+ cm x 7-20 cm. Areoles large, 2-9 mm in diameter, bearing 1-2 spines, spines yellow, +/- brown, banded or mottled, subulate, straight to curved, firm and sharp, usually flattened at base, 2.5-4 cm long; glochidia numerous, ca. 2 mm long, yellowish. Leaves subulate, ca. 5 mm long, purple or reddish green, deciduous. Flowers solitary from areole, lateral, sessile, funnelform, bisexual, actinomorphic, epigynous, yellow. Receptacle obovoid, truncate and depressed at apex. Perianth rotate, spreading or erect, inserted at rim of receptacle; segments numerous, reddish orange and yellow; outer segments orange with yellow margin, ovate, broadly deltoid-obovate to obovate, ca. 2 cm long, margin entire or slightly crisped, apex acute or mucronate; inner segments spreading, bright yellow, obovate or cuneate-obovate, ca. 3 cm long, margin entire or slightly undulate, apex rounded, truncate, emarginate or mucronate. Stamens numerous, yellow, inserted in perianth throat, of unequal lengths, scarcely reaching half the length of the inner perianth segments. Ovary ca. 2 cm long, glochidiate, inferior, unilocular, ovules numerous, placentation parietal; style yellowish, stout, exceeding the stamens, 1.2-2 cm long; stigmas 4-8, erect. Fruit a berry, 4-6 cm x 2.5-3 cm, pyriform, obovoid, truncate, umbilicate at apex, often angular when not fully ripened, with areoles bearing tufts of glochidia, deep reddish purple when ripe. Seeds many, light tan, irregularly orbicular, ca. 4-5 mm x 4-5 mm.

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