Xerophyte

Habit

It is an odd shrubby or tree-like plant that forms wonderfully tortured shapes usually less than 50 cm tall, but occasionally up to 1 m or more metres tall. To many it looks stretched or etiolated due to lack of light, but its actually a monstrous form.

Description

Opuntia monacanthaSN|19862]]SN|19862]] f. monstruosa variegata commonly known as “Joseph's Coat” is one of the very few naturally occurring white-variegated cacti. It is a dwarf, teratological variant of the larger Prickly Pear cactus Opuntia monacanthaSN|19862]]SN|19862]]. As its name suggests, this cactus is variegated or marbled with white, creamy-white, yellow, green and sometimes also with pink in varying patterns.

Note

In cultivation Opuntia monacanthaSN|19862]]SN|19862]] is perhaps best known in the form of its variety variegata.

Flowers

Small red.

Stem

Long, smooth, flattened beautifully green, yellow and pink covered in tiny hair spines.