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 basilaris These are more or less blue-gray, depending on variety, long and less than wide and thick. They are typically spineless, but have instead many small barbed bristles, called glochids, that easily penetrate the skin. "Opuntia basilaris" blooms from spring to early summer. The species is variable in nature and several names under different ranks have been described. Only four of these are generally accepted. Some experts consider the Trelease's beavertail to be a full species (Bowen 1987, R. van de Hoek). It is unique among the varieties of "Opuntia basilaris" in that the areoles contain spines in addition to the