Opuntia ficus-indica, the Indian fig opuntia, fig opuntia, or prickly pear, is a species of cactus that has long been a domesticated crop plant grown in agricultural economies throughout arid and semiarid parts of the world. O. ficus-indica is the most widespread and most commercially important cactus. It is grown primarily as a fruit crop, and also for the vegetable nopales and other uses. Cacti are good crops for dry areas because they efficiently convert water into biomass. O. ficus-indica, as the most widespread of the long-domesticated cactuses, is as economically important as maize and blue agave in Mexico. Opuntia species hybridize easily, but the wild origin of O. ficus-indica is likely to have been in central Mexico, where its closest genetic relatives are found.
Echinocereus engelmannii, the strawberry hedgehog cactus or Engelmann's hedgehog cactus, is a cactus commonly found in desert areas of the southwestern United States and the adjacent areas of Mexico, including the states of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Baja California and Sonora.
Opuntia gosseliniana, commonly known as the violet pricklypear, is a species of cactus that is native to Pima County, Arizona in the United States and Baja California, Chihuahua, and Sonora in Mexico.
Opuntia stricta is a species of large cactus that is endemic to the subtropical and tropical coastal areas of the Americas, especially around the Caribbean. Common names include erect prickly pear and nopal estricto (Spanish). The first description as Cactus strictus was published in 1803 by Adrian Hardy Haworth. In 1812 he moved the species to the genus Opuntia.
Opuntia bentonii was proposed by some botanists to be a synonym of Opuntia stricta. However, O. bentonii, which grows in Texas, is separate and distinct from O. stricta.O. bentonii was clearly described by Griffiths in 1911. Along with O. stricta,O. bentonii was one of the pest pears of Australia in the early Twentieth Century.
Opuntia phaeacantha is a species of prickly pear cactus known by the common names brown-spine prickly pear, tulip prickly pear, and desert prickly pear found across the southwestern United States, lower Great Plains, and northern Mexico. The plant forms dense but localized thickets. Several varieties of this particular species occur, and it may hybridize with other prickly pears, making identification sometimes tricky.
Opuntia leucotricha is a species of cactus with the common names: arborescent pricklypear, Aaron's beard cactus, and semaphore cactus; and duraznillo blanco and nopal blanco.
Opuntia basilaris, the beavertail cactus or beavertail pricklypear, is a cactus species found in the southwest United States. It occurs mostly in the Mojave, Anza-Borrego, and Colorado Deserts, as well as in the Colorado Plateau and northwest Mexico. It is also found throughout the Grand Canyon and Colorado River region as well as into southern Utah and Nevada, and in the western Arizona regions along the Lower Colorado River Valley.
Opuntia humifusa, commonly known as the devil's-tongue, eastern prickly pear or Indian fig, is a cactus of the genus Opuntia present in parts of the eastern United States and northeastern Mexico.
Opuntia fragilis, known by the common names brittle pricklypear and little prickly pear, is a prickly pear cactus native to much of western North America as well as some midwestern states such as Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin and Michigan. It also occurs in several Canadian provinces. It is known from farther north than any other cactus, occurring at as far as 56°N latitude in British Columbia. There is an isolated and possibly genetically unique population in Eastern Ontario known as the "Kaladar population".
Opuntia, commonly called the prickly pear cactus, is a genus of flowering plants in the cactus family Cactaceae, many known for their flavorful fruit and showy flowers. Cacti are well-adapted to aridity; however, they are still vulnerable to alterations in precipitation and temperature driven by climate change. Prickly pear alone is more commonly used to refer exclusively to the fruit, but may also be used for the plant itself; in addition, other names given to the plant and its specific parts include tuna (fruit), sabra, sabbar, nopal from the Nahuatl word nōpalli, nostle (fruit) from the Nahuatl word nōchtli, and paddle cactus. The genus is named for the Ancient Greek city of Opus, where, according to Theophrastus, an edible plant grew and could be propagated by rooting its leaves. The most common culinary species is the "Barbary fig".
Cylindropuntia echinocarpa is a species of cactus known by the common names silver cholla, golden cholla, and Wiggins' cholla. It was formerly named Opuntia echinocarpa.
Opuntia aciculata, also called Chenille pricklypear, old man's whiskers, and cowboy's red whiskers, is a perennial dicot and an attractive ornamental cactus native to Texas. It belongs to the genus Opuntia. It is also widespread in Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas.
Melitara doddalis is a species of snout moth in the genus Melitara. It was described by Harrison Gray Dyar Jr. in 1925, and is found in the United States in southern Arizona, southern New Mexico, south-western Texas and in northern Mexico.
Opuntia macrocentra, the long-spined purplish prickly pear or purple pricklypear, is a cactus found in the lower Southwestern United States and Northwestern Mexico. A member of the prickly pear genus, this species of Opuntia is most notable as one of a few cacti that produce a purple pigmentation in the stem. Other common names for this plant include black-spined pricklypear, long-spine prickly pear, purple pricklypear, and redeye prickly pear.
Flora of the Sonoran Desert includes six subdivisions based on vegetation types. Two are north of the boundary between the United States and Mexico, and four are south of the boundary. The flora of the Colorado Desert are influenced by the environment of the very dry and hot lower areas of the Colorado River valley, which may be barren, treeless, and generally have no large cacti. Flora of the Arizona Upland are comparatively lush, with trees and large columnar cacti that can withstand winter frosts. Those subdivisions of the Sonoran Desert which lie south of the international border are characterized by plants that cannot withstand frost.
Opuntia rufida is a species of prickly pear cactus native to southwestern Texas and northern Mexico, where it grows on rocky slopes. The species makes up for its total lack of spines with a profusion of red-brown glochids. The common name blind prickly pear or cow blinder comes from the fact that the glochids may be carried away by the wind and blind animals.
Opuntia lindheimeri or Texas prickly pear is a species of cactus native to North America. It is native to Mexico and the United States, where its populations are primarily in Texas.
Opuntia sulpurea falls under the Opuntia, or prickly pear, genus within the family Cactaceae named such because of their round shape, green color, and long thick spines. Opuntia sulphurea is the widest spread of the Opuntia that can be found in and around Argentina, occupying mostly arid areas of the region from the plains in the Western portion of Argentina up to much higher altitudes on the Eastern side of the Andes mountain range. As a result of its ability to survive in such a diverse array of environments there are several subspecies of O. sulphurea that are identifiable based on the number of spine per areole, for example. A commonality across the three is a bright yellow flower, often considered to be the color of sulfur, from which the species name is derived. As with several other species of Opuntia, these prickly pears tend to grow in groups, forming clumps that can reach one to two meters in diameter, but while other species within the genus grow upwards as well O. sulphurea tend to stay low to the ground. As a result of its tendency to grow in dry, arid, and rocky areas this cactus has evolved to be very resilient, not even suffering from the effects of agriculture, i.e. cattle grazing, on lower altitude subpopulations.
Opuntia tehuacana, commonly known as the Tehuacán prickly pear, is a species of prickly pear cactus in the family Cactaceae. It was described by Salvador Arias Montez and Susana Gama López in 1997, who were both Mexican botanists. The species was named for the town of Tehuacán, Mexico, which is near the center of the species range.
