Opuntia in the United States. This was dubbed the "Cactus Curtain", an allusion to Europe's Iron Curtain and the Bamboo Curtain in East Asia. Opuntia Opuntia, commonly called prickly pear, is a genus in the cactus family, "Cactaceae". Prickly pears are also known as "tuna" (fruit), "sabra", "nopal" (paddle, plural "nopales") from the Nahuatl word "nōpalli" for the pads, or nostle, from the Nahuatl word "nōchtli" for the fruit; or 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
Opuntia ovaries per carpel. Placentation is parietal, and the fruit is a berry with arillate seeds. Prickly pear species can vary greatly in habit; most are shrubs, but some, such as "Opuntia echios" of the Galápagos, are trees. "O. ficus-indica" thrives in regions with mild winters having a prolonged dry spell followed by hot summers with occasional rain and relatively low humidity. A mean annual rainfall of provides good growth rates. "O. ficus-indica" proliferates in various soils ranging from sub-acid to sub-alkaline, with clay content not exceeding 15-20% and the soil well-drained. The shallow root system enables the plant to grow