Opuntia stricta large fruits. It is also spread by people cutting down the cactus but leaving the cuttings, which then re-sprout where they have fallen. No control measures have been carried out except some costly manual removal of about on the dunes near Bundala village. The cactus is due to invade Yala National Park. Opuntia stricta Opuntia stricta is a large sized species of cactus that is endemic in the subtropical and tropical coastal areas of the Americas and the Caribbean. Common names include erect prickly pear and nopal estricto (Spanish). It is an erect or sprawling shrub up to in height,
Opuntia fragilis in). Both the common and scientific names refer to the easily detached stem segments. This is known to be a means of plant dispersal. "Opuntia fragilis" is a small, prostrate plant, rarely more than 4 inches high: joints tumid, fragile, easily detached, oval, elliptical, or subglobose, 1-2 in. long and nearly as thick as broad, bright green: areoles ¼-½ in. apart, with whitish wool and a few white to yellow bristles, which are much longer and more abundant on older joints; spines 1-4, occasionally a few small additional ones, weak, dark brown, the upper one usually longer and stronger than