Opuntia triacantha
Spanish lady
Family CactaceaeAlso called Keys Joe-jumper, Big Pine Key prickly-pear, Jumping prickly apple
About
Spanish lady is a small Caribbean prickly pear of exposed limestone reefs, flowering yellow year-round. It is threatened by the cactus moth.
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
- Stems up to 60 cm long.
“General guidance for the genus” marks advice sourced for the genus as a whole rather than this species.
Field notes
Morphology
Grows prostrate or upright to 60 cm long, with flattened oval segments up to 18 × 7 cm and black-tipped spines up to 4 cm. Yellow flowers appear all year; the fleshy red fruit is up to 3 cm long.
Distribution & habitat
The Caribbean from Desecheo Island, Puerto Rico, to the Lesser Antilles, on sandy limestone of exposed reefs.
Conservation
Listed as Near Threatened; threatened by the introduced cactus moth (Cactoblastis cactorum).
Habitat
- Altitude
- Not recorded
- Altitude class
- —
- Native to
- Puerto Rico
- IUCN status
- Near threatened
Cultivation
- Difficulty
- Not recorded
Text adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
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