Opuntia ficus-indica fruit and juice is due to betalains, (betanin and indicaxanthin). The plant also contains flavonoids, such as quercetin, isorhamnetin, and kaempferol. DNA analysis indicated "O. ficus-indica" was domesticated from "Opuntia" species native to central Mexico. The Codex Mendoza, and other early sources, show "Opuntia" cladodes, as well as cochineal dye (which needs cultivated "Opuntia"), in Aztec tribute rolls. The plant spread to many parts of the Americas in pre-Columbian times, and since Columbus, has spread to many parts of the world, especially the Mediterranean, where it has become naturalized. Opuntia ficus-indica Opuntia ficus-indica (prickly pear) is a species of cactus
Plant functional type Plant functional type Plant functional types (PFTs) is a system used by climatologists to classify plants according to their physical, phylogenetic and phenological characteristics as part of an overall effort to develop a vegetation model for use in land use studies and climate models. PFTs provide a finer level of modeling than biomes, which represent gross areas such as desert, savannah, deciduous forest. In creating a PFT model, areas as small as 1 km are modeled by defining the predominant plant type for that area, interpreted from satellite data or other means. For each plant functional type, a number of