Opuntia 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 common culinary species is the Indian fig opuntia ("O. ficus-indica"). "O. ficus-indica" is a large trunk-forming segmented cactus which may grow to with
Opuntia engelmannii (state) to the Tamaulipan matorral in Chihuahua (state), in Mexico. In the Sonoran Desert, terminal pads face predominantly east-west, so as to maximize the absorption of solar radiation during summer rains. Although found occasionally in the Mojave Desert, it tends to be replaced by "Opuntia basilaris", which does not need the summer rain. The overall form of "Opuntia engelmannii" is generally shrubby, with dense clumps up to high, usually with no apparent trunk. The pads are green (rarely blue-green), obovate to round, about 15–30 cm long and 12–20 cm wide. The glochids are yellow initially, then brown with age. Spines