Prickly Pear

The prickly pear is a group of cactus species native to the Americas, particularly common across arid and semi-arid regions of Mexico and the southwestern United States, though it has also become widely naturalized in parts of the Mediterranean, Africa and Australia after introduction. It is easily recognized by its flattened, paddle-shaped stem segments, called cladodes, which are covered in clusters of sharp spines as well as tiny, easily detached, irritating bristles called glochids that can embed painfully in skin at the lightest touch. The plant produces showy yellow, orange or red flowers followed by a sweet, brightly colored edible fruit, commonly called a tuna, and the young, de-spined pads themselves, known as nopales, are a popular vegetable in Mexican cuisine. Highly drought-tolerant and able to store large amounts of water in its fleshy stems, the prickly pear has become an important, if sometimes invasive, plant well outside its native range, most famously overrunning large areas of Australia in the early 20th century before being brought under control by an introduced moth whose caterpillars feed exclusively on the cactus.