PlantFiles: Eastern Prickly Pear, Devil's Tongue, Low Prickly Pear
Opuntia humifusa

Just lay a broken piece on top of the ground and it will root. Nothing bothers this plant.

Has survived 3 Chicago winters with no protection. Yet to bloom though.

You can find this cactus just about anywhere in Oklahoma but is more noticeable in rocky and hilly areas of the state such as the Wichita and Arbuckle mountains and in the canyon areas around Binger, OK. I have seen it grow in many shapes and sizes, with or without large needles, round or pointed pads and either dark green or light green. I currently own some I picked up from Lake Texoma-northern Texas side and has bloomed every year since 2005. It looks terrible in the winter, shriveled and purple colored, but bounces back in the March warmth. I also saw some south of Mustang, OK, but the pads were very small and the glochids had much more fuzzy needles than the Texoma variety, making it much more difficult to handle. It has not bloomed since I acquired it in Sept. 2005. O. compressa is also a fast spreader in Oklahoma.

This cactus grows all over where I live and if you are not careful - it will take over. Fortunately we have a lot of shade, so we do not have that many. I can not remember how many times my children have fallen on them. The only good thing is their fruit! It makes a wonderful jelly and pancake syrup. It is very very sweet. It is worth the effort of harvesting.

The form with the bright orange centre to the flower is absolutely stunning. Hardly a very prickly plant compared to some other opuntia species and is low growing, so easily controlled. Often referred to as the "lazy pear" because of its reclining and creeping growth habit.
If you handle with a pair of salad tongs the glochids will not be a problem. Gloves are useless. If they get glochids in them you might as well throw them away and spines will go straight through. Don't wear gloves when handling any opuntia!
O. humifusa also grows in Australia in New South Wales where it is naturalized in a small area. Sometimes it hybridizes with O. stricta wherever their ranges of distribution overlap.

Re another comment below, O. vulgaris is not a synonym of O. ficus-indica, (or if it ever was then it must have been misapplied). O. vulgaris is an old name for (and therefore a synonym of) O. monacantha.
O. ficus-indica is a different species, and much larger in all it parts.

im sorry to say this with all those that seem to love this plant, but this plant is all around awful. it is imho very ugly, and cheap-looking. its flowers may seem nice, but they will only bring you closer to the dreadful spines that are brittle and nearly invisible so they break off into your skin, and punish you for getting too close to the plant with stings like tiny invisible wasps, whenever anything brushes against the punctures skin. the best way to rmove them is with a magnifying glass and tweezers, and after each has been removed separately, put duct tape on the affected area and pull off to remove any that are laying flat on the skin.. after tht put rubbing alcohol on. i think it reduces the skin's reaction to the spines

Love this plant. We originally found a loose pad just lying on the ground of an island in the middle of the Hudson River in N.Y.
The plant settled quite nicely once we replanted it in Youngstown, Ohio. Today it flourishes and has even managed to flower this year for the first time ever.

What a happy little plant! Nice and compact...petite little pads. Started with just one pad brought back from the beach. Didn't have a clue and literally just place it on the ground. Whaaa laaa...good sized clump growing now in 2 places and have shared with others. This one even seems to handle the rain and such without a second thought.

I love this plant. When I first found out about it, I was amazed that a cactus was native to Maryland since I've always thought about cacti as occurring in hot dry deserts.

I first saw this plant when we moved into our new house at the end of our communal private drive. It was situated in the cracked separation of a large, low rock in full sun, obviously shallow, poor soil.

For some reason, it was considered to be of no aesthetic value by my neighbors and was removed by not before I had collected a chunk of it. I wish I knew it was going to happen so I could have taken the whole plant.

I have it growing now in the shallow soil on top of the roots of a very old oak tree that isn't very full so the cactus gets a good amount of sun.

I never water it or feed it and it's very rewarding, gifting me with relatively fast growth, beautiful yellow flowers, and red "pears".

I've never tried the fruit but would like to this year. I haven't observed any animals consuming the fruit.

The plant turns purple and takes on a shriveled, mushy like appearance in winter but resorts back to it's firm, true green colored state once the weather remains warm.

The only downside is the thorns. They're tiny, hairlike and break when you take them out of skin unless you remove them very carefully and gently.

My neighbor has these atop a long, low stone wall in front of her yard, and when they bloom, it's a lovely sight!

This plant is extremely easy to propagate. It sometimes propagates itself by simply dropping a new leaf to the ground, where it almost immediately roots.It is very hardy to 25 below zero and to sometimes to 120 degrees.

Neat cactus, good for northern climes.

American Indians poulticed peeled pads on wounds and applied the juice to warts, They dranks pad tea for lung ailments. In folk medicine, peeled pads were poulticed for rheumatism; juice used to treat kidney stones. Baked pads were used for gout chronic ulcers and wounds.

LOVE this plant! In spite of the spines and glochids. It grows naturally in South Eastern NC. Wild animals, such as racoons love the fruits, which can also be consumed by humans. The green pads can also be eaten as a vegetable. Grew extensively on the grounds of my old Scout Camp.

Sudie, Zone 8b Southeast TX
Potted rooted cutting in 5 gal. plastic pot. Placed in west flower bed. Prickly Pear gets good drainage and lots & lots of hot, Texas sun!
Mid-summer blooms are deep, canary yellow & beautiful lasting about 3 weeks. After blooming when Fall arrives, Prickley (pears) are ripe & ready for eating; similiar, in taste & process, to fried, green tomatoes.
East TX folks fry the tunas (red fruit) which are delicious.
Fireants invaded pot. I have an insect arsenal & discouraged fire ants who moved to another location. lol
Prickly Pear is a perennial; height is 6-12"; hardiness in zones 4b to 10b; foliage is evergreen; drought-tolerant; do not overwater (this is a desert plant)
propagate by rooted, stem cuttings.
no seeds; multiplies similar to aloe from roots making new plants.

Primarily bees visit the flowers (both long-tongued and short-tongued), including Plasterer bees, Halictid bees, large Leaf-Cutting bees, Miner bees, bumblebees, and large Carpenter bees. These bees often collect the copious pollen; the larger bees are more likely to cause pollination. In the eastern states, the relationship of cacti to wildlife is less well-known than in the western U.S. From these western studies, it appear that the fruit and seeds are occasionally eaten by the Wild Turkey, Striped Skunk, and Thirteen-Lined Ground Squirrel. The fruit and stems (pads) are sometimes eaten by the Cottontail Rabbit, White-Tailed Deer, and Coyote, notwithstanding the spines. All of these animals occur in Illinois at the present time. Those animals eating the fruits help to disperse the seeds, which can pass through their gullets unharmed.

The Eastern Prickly Pear is a striking plant with beautiful flowers. It has fewer spines than many western species of cactus, but they are still fairly formidable. Sometimes this cactus can form impressively large colonies, if it persists at the same location for a sufficiently long period of time. The only other cactus with a similar size and appearance in Illinois is Opuntia macrorhiza (Big-Rooted Prickly Pear); this species differs from the Eastern Prickly Pear by its thick tuberous root, and two or more spines can appear from each of its areoles, rather than just one. In the past, the Eastern Prickly Pear has been referred to by various scientific names, including Opuntia compressa and Opuntia rafinesquei.

More synonyms are:
Opuntia compressa, Opuntia mesacantha, Opuntia italica, Opuntia rafinesquei, Opuntia fuscoatra, Opuntia allairei, Cactus humifusus, Opuntia caespitosa (Rafinesque)1830, Opuntia rafinesquei var. minor, Opuntia humifusa var. minor, Opuntia nemoralis, Opuntia rubiflora, Opuntia impedata, Opuntia calcicola, Opuntia cumulicola.

Opuntia vulgaris has been misapplied as a synonym in the past, and is not valid. Some still list it as a synonym though. It is actually a synonym of Opuntia ficus-indica as of the 2001 reclassifications.

This plant lies on the ground flat in the wintertime, very prostrate in the wintertime, sprawling out, less than 12 inches high. The pads look somewhat wrinkled laterally.
It is fairly rare but, some clones have gray or white spines which are borne on the areoles on the upper half of the pad only. They range from 0.8 to 2.0 inches long.

This is used medicinally for wounds, snakebites & warts by the Plains tribes in the Eastern U.S. Also used for mordant when dyeing.

The most common prickly pear dispersed throughout the state, it does well here, and can be invasive in a garden situation if not contained. It's an easy bloomer that will produce loads of yellow flowers dependably year after year. Tolerates freezing weather.

Small, sprawling prickly pear species native to the northeast US- grows great in Florida, and so-so in California. Here in S California it is a real miniature cactus, rarely exceeding 2-3" in height.