Plant in full sun. Plants require low water when established, but watering once a month in summer is a good idea to keep plants healthy. Container plants need water 1-2 times a week in summer, and leave dry in winter, maybe lightly water if the roots go bone dry. This species is hardy to 10°F. Good drainage is absolutely essential for this species.

We recommend watering plants in the summer when there is drought to prevent rots. During droughts plants will have natural root dye-back, and this is normal. But during extended droughts like the two year drought of 2019-2020, plants had excessive root dye-back and when the rains finally came, many plants just rotted. Many people thought that the really wet summer is what rotted the cacti, but it was the response to copious moisture coming into contact with lots of dead roots, and those rots chased up into the plants.

Flowers are very important for native bee species, though numerous other pollinators use the flowers. The seeds of the dried fruits are eaten by birds and many other animals. Prickly pear plants provide important habitat for birds, native rodents like packrats, and numerous other animals. Larval host for the tineid moth Dyotopasta yumaella, the grass moth Dicymolomia opuntialis, the snout moth Laetilia dilatifasciella, and the grass moth Pseudoschinia elautalis.

The Cahuilla Native Americans used beavertail as a food staple. The buds were cooked or steamed, and then were eaten or stored. The large seeds were ground up to be eaten as mush, sometimes mixed with other ground up nuts or seeds. The Diegueño would consume it as a dried fruit after removing the thorns. The Shoshone Native American Tribe took advantage of the analgesic properties of this cactus by creating a poultice from the inner mucilage to treat minor cuts.

Opuntia is from Latin root puncti for prickled. The species name, basilaris, means basal, as in stretching from the base, referring to how the pads grow. There are approximately 176 species currently accepted for the genus. Like most true cactus species, prickly pears are native only to the Americas. Through human action, they have since been introduced to many other areas of the world.

There are several, very similar-looking varieties:

Opuntia basilaris var. basilaris — the standard beavertail pricklypear

Opuntia basilaris var. brachyclada – Little beavertail pricklypear

Opuntia basilaris var. heilii – Heil's beavertail

Opuntia basilaris var. longiareolata – Elongated beavertail prickly pear or Grand Canyon beavertail pricklypear

Opuntia basilaris var. treleasei – Trelease's beavertail prickly pear, Bakersfield cactus (This variety is designated as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act and California Endangered Species Act, which means that killing or poaching the plants is prohibited in California)

Found in sandy to rocky soils in woodlands, flats, and in chaparral from 1,000-5,500’ in southern Utah to southern California, Arizona, and just into Sonora, Mexico in the Gran Desierto de Altar, and Baja Arizona near the national border.