Opuntia aciculata also tolerate temperatures from −5 to −12 °C. The fruits are edible and the soft pads ("nopales") can be cooked as vegetables. It also can be used to treat dyspepsia, mumps, or swelling, and in veterinary it is used to treat bruises. After burning of spines, the pads can serve as a good feed for cattle. Opuntia aciculata Opuntia aciculata, also called Chenille pricklypear, old man's whiskers, and cowboy’s red whiskers, is a perennial dicot and an attractive ornamental cactus native to Texas. It belongs to the genus "Opuntia" prickly pear cacti. It is also widespread in Nuevo Leon, Tamaulipas
Opuntia arenaria strongly deflexed and much shorter. Overall, plants (clumps) of cladodes may be 20–30 cm across and about 4–8 cm tall. Fruits are small, about 2.5 cm. Opuntia arenaria Opuntia arenaria was considered a variety of "O. polyacantha" by many botanists, and is still treated that way in the Flora of North America. However, "O. arenaria" is diploid and "O. polyacantha" is tetraploid. It was described by Engelmann in 1856. "Opuntia arenaria" can grow in soil that is essentially pure sand. It has rhizomes up to 1.5 m long that give rise to above ground shoots with small cladodes that are