Opuntia keeps in livestock and marks the boundaries of family lands. They are resilient and often grow back following removal. The cactus lends its name to a song by British jazz/classical group Portico Quartet. The song "My Rival", on the album "Gaucho" by the American jazz-pop group Steely Dan begins with the words, "The wind was driving in my face/The smell of prickly pear." In the fall of 1961, Cuba had its troops plant an barrier of "Opuntia" cactus along the northeastern section of the fence surrounding the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base to stop Cubans from escaping Cuba to take refuge
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