Opuntia engelmannii
Engelmann's prickly pear
Family CactaceaeAlso called Desert prickly pear, Cactus apple, Nopal
About
Engelmann's prickly pear is a shrubby prickly pear of the south-central and southwestern United States and northern Mexico. It stays green all year and bears yellow flowers with red centres.
Care at a glance
- Pet safety
- Listed as non-toxic to dogs, cats and horses, but spines and glochids cause injury. General guidance for the genus
- People
- Barbed glochids lodge in skin and irritate; wear gloves when handling. General guidance for the genus
- Light
- Full sun (6+ hours of direct sun); high light indoors. General guidance for the genus
- Water
- Very drought tolerant; avoid soggy soil, which causes root rot. General guidance for the genus
- Soil
- Well-drained sandy or loamy soil; cactus mix in pots. General guidance for the genus
- Propagation
- A single detached pad roots readily to form a new plant. General guidance for the genus
- Mature size
- Clumps up to 3.5 m tall.
“General guidance for the genus” marks advice sourced for the genus as a whole rather than this species.
Field notes
Morphology
Forms dense clumps up to 3.5 m tall, usually without a visible trunk. Green, rarely blue-green, pads are obovate to round, about 15–30 cm long and 12–20 cm wide. Glochids start yellow and turn brown with age. It hybridises with O. phaeacantha, which turns reddish purple in winter or drought.
Distribution & habitat
From California to Louisiana in the United States and south through Sonora, Chihuahua and Tamaulipas in Mexico. Prefers hot, dry sites and tolerates more frost than many Opuntia.
Ecology
In the Sonoran Desert the end pads tend to face east–west, catching the most sun during summer rains. It relies on CAM photosynthesis to limit water loss.
Cultivation notes
Grown as an ornamental in drought-tolerant gardens, containers and natural landscaping, and used as a living hedge and cattle fodder; its drought tolerance led to introductions in Africa.
History & etymology
The fruits were a dependable summer food for Native American peoples; the Tohono O'odham sorted them by colour, ripening time and keeping quality.
Habitat
- Altitude
- Not recorded
- Altitude class
- —
- Native to
- United States, Mexico
- IUCN status
- Least concern
Cultivation
- Difficulty
- easy
Text adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
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