Last updated March 19, 2024
Opuntias are the prickly pear cacti. There are over 90 species of Opuntia in the United States. We describe them here.
Opuntias are unique cacti with unusual shapes and beautiful flowers. They are part of the opuntiad supergroup of cacti.
The “big three” states for opuntias are Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. However, the East has a number of species too. Most states have at least one native prickly pear. The good news is that many western opuntias will grow in a variety of climates. So, you can grow them in your garden.
Cholla Web is our sister website, and it describes other opuntiads of the USA (chollas and dog chollas).
The Details
Of the many prickly pear cacti in the United States, some have been forgotten by time, and many names have fallen by the wayside. Many species have multiple names because someone named a species in (for instance) New Mexico, whereas someone else named the species in Arizona. Some species look superficially alike, and only close inspection can tell them apart (e.g., O. humifusa and O. mesacantha).
Thus, casual observation might indicate one Opuntia type where there are actually two or more.
What We Do
We describe the Opuntia species of the United States, and we provide multiple photographs so you can see details. We take photos in habitat so that you can see how the plants look and grow in different seasons.
We use historical records, herbarium records, and current findings along with our own field studies to identify prickly pears, their differences, and their similarities. We photograph the plants and post their photos there, organized by species.
Our goal is to describe a prickly pear cactus in easy-to-understand terms so that you can find all of them in habitat.
A group of editors verifies all the information on this Website, and we strive for accuracy. But we are always happy to learn new things. Just write to us or leave a comment. If you have an Opuntia, maybe we can help you identify it.
We generally do not describe Opuntia hybrids though there are many beautiful plants in gardens. Though prickly pear hybrids occur in Nature, they are not the norm. We concentrate on species.
The Garden
This Website is not about gardening, but we agree that many Opuntia species are excellent garden plants. Many opuntias grow naturally in climates without strong freezes, but some come from northern areas or high altitudes that can fly through winters of exceptional cold.
Conclusion
Opuntia species are part of the supergroup: opuntiads. They are the plants with flat stems also known as paddle cacti.
Their names are confusing and many species are difficult to tell apart. Some species have been forgotten and we try to match up the species we see with the descriptions written 100 (or more) years ago.
This Website has descriptions of over 90 prickly pear species and over 1500 photographs of them.
Prickly pear cacti are unique and worth studying because:
- They are numerous in the warmer parts of the county.
- They have incredible adaptations for drought and heat.
- They are important plants for desert wildlife.
- There is much yet to be learned about their basic biology.
- They have a plastic morphology.
- There are lost or forgotten species to pair with the original descriptions.
- There is controversy about their taxonomy.
I like Opuntias (nopales) very much!
Hi,
Are there any Opuntia cacti without glochids?
Reiner
Hi,
There are a couple or three plants out there without spines and without glochids. The one I am most familiar with is O. cacanapa ‘Ellisiana’. It is also called O. Ellisiana. It forms a large plant 3-4 feet tall and across, but can be kept smaller by pruning. You can handle it with impunity, but I did find a glochid once.
Read this page: https://www.opuntiads.com/opuntia-cacanapa-incl-o-ellisiana/ .
Joe
Liliana,
What opuntias do you grow? Can you grow many in Texas?
Currently have two young opuntias growing alongside my golf course walkway. Will allow both the chance to grow to see what they might become. However, will deffinately transplant one, maybe both.
Eager to obtain a clear ID, as soon as possible.
Live in Arizona City, Arizona.
How to send the photos to ask for your advice on positive ID of my Opuntia cactus?
Could you id this opuntia
https://garden.org/pics/2019-06-24/skopjecollection/c422c4.jpg
https://garden.org/pics/2019-06-25/skopjecollection/d3a065.jpg
https://garden.org/pics/2019-06-25/skopjecollection/5f9675.jpg
Dutch wholesale, slow growing. Recovering from scale infestation.
What are the hardiest, tallest Opuntia varieties that I can introduce into my Hudson Valley, NY outside garden. I believe I’m in Zone 5, South of Poughkeepsie,Ny. Thanks
Hi Stefan,
I conferred with a colleague. Your plant is not a good fit for American species. However, we have some ideas/guesses. It seems like a largish woody plant.
1. It is a garden hybrid.
2. It may be related to O. engelmannii or O. arizonica and affected by culture conditions.
3. There is a remote possibility is is an unusually woody form of O. tortispina.
Joe
Hi,
I don’t know of any large plants for your area. It is remotely possible that O. ‘Ellisiana’ could work out. Likely it would be OK down to 15F. Perhaps you could grow it in a large pot and then wheel it into the garage for winter.
Good luck.
Joe Shaw
Hi,
You can send to photos to [email protected].
Joe Shaw
Jim,
As per our discussion, it will be easier to ID your plant when it is more mature. Perhaps with flowers and/or fruits.
Joe Shaw
Can you help me identify ours, I can send a photo later let me know where I can send it to thanks I would like to harvest for family food or fruit to help with swelling from arthritis. Thanks Sam
Very cool website, I’m glad I stumbled upon it in my search to learn more about the cactuses in our new home’s garden. The former residents took such good care of the plants. I’m new to gardening so it’s interesting to learn about the different kinds.
I believe I have an Optunia and would like assistance in identification.
Hi,
Send an email with the picture to the address on the front page. To Dave or Joe.
Joe
Can all types of opuntia / nopales be consumed?
Good Morning
is there away to have 6 species identified?
Thank you
Hello,
Congratulations on your informative and attractive website. I’m writing to ask permission to use one of your photos for an article on opuntia in the Foggy View, the newsletter of the Palos Verdes-South Bay Group of the Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club. The photo we’d like to use is Opuntia aurea, east-entrance to Zion, Andrey-Zharkikh. Is Andrey Zharkikh the photographer? May we use it if we give credit?
Thanks for your consideration.
Judy
Hi Judy,
You may use any photo that is not attributed (most of them). If they are attributed, I will need to get permission. Sometimes that takes a while.
Joe Shaw
Hi Joseph
Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us.
I have question
What are the best varieties of prickly pear for cultivation ? Like is in term of size and taste. And is there an excellent hybrid for cultivation ?
Thanks
Hi,
Thanks for your note. We are always happy to get mail.
Your question is a difficult one to answer in some ways because there are so many gardenworthy hybrids. If it is wild species you are interested you can find lists at http://www.opuntiads.com on the front page.
If you are interested in hybrids, I suggest you pose your question on the FaceBook Opuntiads page. You might get many answers so be sure so specific small if you want small (the size of O. polyacantha or smaller). There are many garden worthy larger plants too.
Joe
What is the difference between opuntia subulata and opuntia cylindrica? How can you tell the difference? Thanks.
Wanneer kunnen zaailingen van opuntia Vulgaris in de buitenlucht gezet worden . Ik woon in Hardenberg Nederland .
Good morning!! Hope this message finds you well and in good spirits!! I have a cactus I was hoping you could help me to identify. My husband was out of state on business and knowing I’m an avid plant lover…he asked his friend for a piece of his cactus since he knew I could propagate it from just the pad. But it’s been almost a year and the poor thing has been through a very rough patch of my life with me. In the process it has stretched a bit. I’m having a hard time figuring out what it is so that I can give it more adequate care. Any chance you could help me figure out what species it is?? Unfortunately I have no way to ask the person which whom it had come from. I would be so very grateful!!
To Rob Mender, Hi Rob, if you’ve already found an answer to your Austrocylindropuntia question, I apologize for the duplication here. There are three very similar larger species that are often recognized in this genus, and two of them are generally “lumped” together as one.
A. subulata is the most commonly grown, at least as it is usually expanded to include plants that have been called A. exaltata as well. True A. subulata is a plant with extra long leaves (generally noticeably longer than the stems are thick, as compared to about the same), but otherwise there is little different between the two that individual variation doesn’t explain (flower color, growth habit, number and length of spines, etc. vary from individual to individual).
Cylindropuntia subulata (including exaltata) is native to the Andes, but just where it is native or not is somewhat debated, because it is so widely cultivated, and it escapes cultivation sometimes. Probably it is native just in Peru.
C. cylindrica is quite similar to these, but it has significantly shorter leaves than any form of C. cylindrica/exaltata, and it has more rows of shorter tubercles on the stems and fruits. This one is probably native just in Ecuador.
There are monstrose forms of these that are mostly plants retaining juvenile traits, staying small, and often proliferate by many little short stem segments – looking very different from normal adult plants. These can be difficult to sort out unless they happen to produce a normal adult stem, because they are so different from the adult plants, and because they can look very similar regardless of which species they are (and they are often mislabeled). These often make rather tiny leaves too, regardless of which species they are, so the leaves may not help much. Generally though, even with these, the A. cylindrica plants will have more and shorter tubercles on the stems.
A. pachypus is related and similar too. It has fatter stems and makes a more compact plant that tends to grow wider and less tall, and it has even more tubercles than A. cylindrica. It is from lower elevations in Peru than where A. subulata is supposed to be native, and seems to perhaps favor a drier climate. I’m not aware of any monstrose juvenile cultivars of this species.
Other species of Austrocylindropuntia are all less robust plants with more slender and often much shorter and more compactly arranged stems than normal adult forms of the previous ones.
Regarding Austrocylinropuntia pachypus. I should add that the spines are quite different, usually more of them, and more slender and shorter.
What are some miniature opuntia relatives? I would appreciate it if you could give me some genera to look up. Thanks
Have you noticed that cochineal bugs avoid Santa Rita opuntias? I have the large Mexican and the Santa Ritas near each other in my Barstow front yard. When I squish/wash off the bugs, the pads are sometimes stained so they look a bit like Santa Rita pads. So do they think the SRs have already been occupied?
thanks
Joe, I am eating chopped up ortegasnopalitos.com pads for the first time. Can you please provide some information about what species of Opuntia is used and shipped from Mexico to Houston? Have spoken to Dad Furgeson already on Facebook Opuntoids group. I am a member of the Houston Cactus & Succulent Society and would like to learn more to share with others. Thanks.
Hello:
I would like to know a little about watering opuntias in pots.
Sincerely, Antonio Rueda
I have been looking and looking for the variety that has the purple cactus fruit, as shown in one of your photos. I only see the red cactus fruit in most varieties in my area, but I would love to grow the kind with the deep purple fruit. Any suggestions on where to find this?
Hello,
I’d love to know more about how opuntia capture carbon. Where does it end upm
Hi,
Opuntia capture carbon through Crassulacean Acid Metabolism (CAM) Photosynthesis
In this pathway, stomata open at night, which allows CO2 to diffuse into the leaf to be combined with PEP and form malate. This acid is then stored in large central vacuoles until daytime. During the day, malate is released from the vacuoles and decarboxylated.
JOe
Hi,
I like to let rain water my Opuntia in Houston and east. In desert areas I water the plants about once every week or two in hot weather and when they start to wake up in the spring. I seldom water them in winter or late fall.
Joe
Tom,
I do not now which Nopalea is shipped to the USA. Sorry.
Joe Shaw
Hi,
Opuntia Santa-Rita seems to be a magnet for cochineal scale everwhere it grows. Though, it is not so much so in areas with hard winters.
Joe
James,
Opuntia fragilis, O. pusilla (O. drummondii), O. debrecyzi, and O. polyacantha var. scheriniana are some small species.
Joe Shaw
Thank you for sharing your work, dedication and love to these beings.
Hello!
I am interested in the best type of Opuntia for culinary uses. Specifically nopales and tunas, secondly for prickly pear oil. Would love something to grow outside in zone 7b.
Hi Joe, Had someone on twitter send me a photo of a plant with the label Opuntia humifusa ssp. littoicca asking if I had ever heard of it. I haven’t. It doesn’t look like typical humifusa in that the pads are covered in long thin spines. Looks more like a type of Opuntia polyacantha. Just wondering if you have ever come across the name littoicca? Thanks.
I have really got in to cacti the last year. We live in Kansas City area zone 6 a/b looking to grow opuntia . Will
Move in and out for winter but looking to eventually leave outside. Trying to find the right one. Hoping to get seeds and possibly transplant opuntia we can buy. Willing to travel and pick up. Looking to get fruit in next few years for medicinal purposes. Long term health issues. Any help would be appreciated. Multiple opuntia is very optional have plenty of space to grow
I have really got in to cacti the last year. We live in Kansas City area zone 6 a/b looking to grow opuntia . Will
Move in and out for winter but looking to eventually leave outside. Trying to find the right one. Hoping to get seeds and possibly transplant opuntia we can buy. Willing to travel and pick up. Looking to get fruit in next few years for medicinal purposes. Long term health issues. Any help would be appreciated. Multiple opuntia is very optional have plenty of space to grow
Bob,
I have not run across the name in a legitimate publication.
Joe
I need information on what is the best kind of opuntia for the climate conditions in southern Michigan.
Hi,
You might try O. cespitosa, O humifusa, or O polyacantha.
Joe
i’ve grown hardy opuntia in zone 5 for 25 years without any problems, until now . the problem is creeping charlie weed grew all through cactus patch while i had covid for two weeks total exhaustion , anyway , that weed is getting tall enough now to block sunlight to cacti . i cant come up with a technique to avoid spines and glochids from all the cactus plants amongst all this creeping charlie . been plucking weed leaves off to allow sunlight in but i am considering digging up cactus patch and replanting them after sifting out weeds .
my question is , in mid october zone 5 will that harm cacti or prevent them coming through winter to spring ?
I’ve spent hours searching for my cactus species closest I’ve come is it’s related to brittle prickly pear can I email pictures to be identified please
Hi,
Please email pictures to [email protected]. We will do our best.
Barry,
Please send photos. I’ll try to help you ID the plant.
Closeup of pads, and shots far enough away to show the whole plant.
Flowers would be helpful
Also, where did it come from.
Pics of the pads you are trying to root would be helpful, close-ups.
Joe
So I’m in great need of identification help if my Opuntia as was wondering if there’s a way to send pictures for you to confirm I’ve been given everything from opuntia lindheimeri to Opuntia robusta but I believe from my research that it’s Opuntia bentonii blue green pads 1-3 yellowish orange spines but mainly 1 spine per glochid the plant is staying at 58 cm currently so it fits bentonii I think the veins are visible but I’d love a much more educated professional in this field to help confirm or point me in the right direction
Hello,
I am looking for the best cactus that produces the largest and juiciest prickly pears. TIA
HI,
Try Opuntia ficus indica.
Joe