Plant in full sun. Low water is required but once or twice a month in summer is recommended. You won’t need to water this plant in winter. In containers, you will want to water it about once a week in summer, and little, if at all in winter. One of the hardiest cacti in the world, it can tolerate temperatures as low as -30°F.

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.

Opuntia is from Latin root puncti for prickled. The specific name of this plant was given because it is one of the species of cactus from which cochineal was obtained. Cochineal was long supposed to be a vegetable product; it was not until 1703 that, by the aid of the microscope, it was definitely determined to be of insect origin. 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 numerous varieties of the species. We featured this one since it is the one we most often carry, but you can look out for these other varieties which have similar care instructions.

Opuntia polyacantha var. polyacantha: has spines rarely exceeding 2” in length, and dense spines on the fruits. Distribution: Alberta and Saskatchewan south to western Texas, New Mexico, and southeastern Utah.

Opuntia polyacantha var. albispina.: is a creeping form with spines to only 3.5 cm long, and some spines on the fruits. Distribution: New Mexico, west Texas, and Mexico.

Opuntia polyacantha var. arenaria: is a creeping form with spines to only 3.5 cm long, and some spines on the fruits. Distribution: southeastern New Mexico, west Texas, and neighboring Mexico. This is probably now considered its own species.

Opuntia polyacantha var. hystricina: has spines to 10 cm long, and fruits that are spiny above. Distribution: from northern Arizona to Colorado.

Opuntia polyacantha var. nicholii: has spines to 5” long, and some spines on the fruits. Distribution: Navajoan
Desert of Utah and Arizona.

Opuntia polyacantha var. utahensis: has areoles that are relatively far apart. The cladodes are most often thickish and elongate, sometimes a bit lumpy (usually not), and light in color. The cladodes may be yellowish-green and the spines are usually pale white to yellowish in color. The spines are slender.  The areoles of this prickly pear cactus are relatively far apart on fruit and sometimes spineless.  It is found mostly in lower mountains in woodland or scrub, but sometimes it occurs in sagebrush areas. It grows in eastern California (rare), Nevada, western Utah, and perhaps into southern Idaho and southeastern Oregon.

Opuntia polyacantha schweriniana: tends to be a miniature replica of vars polyacantha, juniperina, or hystricina–spination in this prickly pear cactus varies. It grows at high elevations (often above the other varieties) in the Southern Rocky Mountains in eastern Utah, Colorado, northern New Mexico, southern Wyoming, with pockets of similar plants further north in Wyoming and in the Black Hills.

Opuntia polyacantha var. juniperina: much like var polyacantha in many traits, but it has much fewer spines that are confined to the upper areoles or which may be nearly completely absent.

Opuntia polyacantha var. rhodantha: has areoles that are large and relatively far apart. Stem segments are usually very thick and may be elongate; they are generally “lumpy” because the areoles are prominent.

The species as a whole ranges from Mexico near California, to Texas, to the Rocky Mountain states and the Great Plains, and north into Alberta and Saskatchewan. In 2018, a disjunct population was discovered in the Thousand Islands region of Ontario, Canada.