Xerophyte

Trunk

Well-developed trunks 60-150 cm tall and up to 35 cm in diameter.

Seeds

Irregularly discoid, grey, brownish or tan, 3-4(-5) mm in largest diameter.

Description

Opuntia ficus-indica is a prickly pear cactus that has long been a domesticated crop plant important in agricultural economies throughout arid and semiarid parts of the world.

Roots

Root-system spreads horizontally.

Stem Segments

Variable, narrowly to broadly obovate, oblong or spatulate-oblong, flattened, very thick, succulent, (20-)30-50(-80) cm long, 10-25 cm wide, 2-2,5 cm thick, sometimes even larger. The epidermis is green, very thick and waxy, thus very water repellent and sun reflecting.

Flowers

Large, 5-7(-10) cm long and broad, normally bright yellow to orange-yellow ( but also white, bright orange or red) with reddish or greenish centres, the inner perianth segments sometimes pink-tinged externally, 2,5-3 cm long, 1,5-2 cm broad. Ovary 5 cm long. Filaments and anthers yellow; style and stigma lobes greenish.

Chromosome Number

2 n = 88.

Spines

Inconspicuous, absent or present in a few areoles, or 1-6 present in most of the areoles on each pad; spines usually white, tan or pale brown, deflexed and spreading, straight, flattened, subulate, to 1,2-2,5(-4) cm long, 0,6-0,9 mm wide at the base.

Fruits

Fruits ovoid to oblong, with a low, depressed umbilicus, 5-10 cm long, 4-9 cm in diameter, with glochids and sometimes spines, normally red to purplish, but also green, yellow or orange, fleshy, juicy, edible, persistent for several months. The pulp may be white-yellowish, orangish or purple-red.

Habit

It is a large and bushy or sometimes erect and treelike perennial succulent with a definite woody trunk, 1-6 meters high, usually with a large top.

Leaves

Ephemeral, minute on young cladodes, subulate, green, 3 mm long and quickly fall.

Phenology

The flowers first appear in early May through the early summer in the Northern Hemisphere, and the fruit ripen from August through October. Flowering occurs on 1-2 year-old cladodes. Flowers open late morning

Note

In Mexico a spiny forms ("reversions") of Opuntia ficus-indicaSN|11631]]SN|11631]], is imprecisely known as Opuntia megacantha, and is difficult to distinguish from the wild type.

Areoles

Small, narrowly elliptical, 2-6 cm apart, 2-5(-7) mm long, 3-4 mm broad (areoles perhaps oval to subspherical on young pads) usually spineless; glochids brown or yellow, numerous protruding 1-2 mm, soon dropping off. Some varieties are glochids-less.