Opuntia phaeacantha
Brown-spine prickly pear
Family CactaceaeAlso called Tulip prickly pear, Desert prickly pear, New Mexico prickly-pear
About
Brown-spine prickly pear is a mounding cactus of the southwestern United States, lower Great Plains and northern Mexico. It forms dense local thickets and hybridises readily, which can make identification difficult.
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
“General guidance for the genus” marks advice sourced for the genus as a whole rather than this species.
Field notes
Morphology
Mounds of flattened green pads with clusters of 1–4 spines, often over 3 cm long, brown to grey and darker toward the base, above a tuft of easily detached glochids. Flowers are bright yellow with a pale green to red centre, occasionally orange, pink or magenta. Fruits are red or purple with pink, seedy flesh.
Distribution & habitat
Southwestern United States, the lower Great Plains and northern Mexico.
Cultivation notes
The edible fruit has a mild watermelon- or pear-like flavour; pads and fruit can be prepared like those of Opuntia humifusa.
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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