Prickly pear cactus? \"Pod\" appeared but never formed fruit

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jojogarden Lakeland, FL(Zone 9b) Jun 14, 2016

I was given this plant and told it is a prickly pear cactus, with edible fruit and pads.

In spring, it was full of "pods" (shown in pic below) with reddish-color bloom that never opened. After a short time, the bloom fell out of the pod leaving the empty hole, and the pod never got any bigger than thumb-size as shown in pic. Then the pods fell off; some of the empty pods actually formed roots after falling onto the ground.

1. Is it really a prickly pear cactus?
2. What do I need to do so that blooms will form fruit next spring?

Tia,
JoJo

Thumbnail by jojogarden Thumbnail by jojogarden Thumbnail by jojogarden
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jojogarden Lakeland, FL(Zone 9b) Jul 19, 2016

Bump.
Any ideas, anyone?

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Illig1 Redwood City, CA Jul 22, 2016

This is an opuntia. And the pods you see are the byproduct of flowers.

However, I don't think it is an opuntia ficus indica which is the type of cactus typically known for producing edible fruit known as "tunas." The ficus indica typically has wider and fatter pads and is usually glaucous rather than green. I don't know whether other types of opuntias also produce fruit, but I have many different types of opuntias and the only fruit producer is the ficus indica.


This message was edited Jul 22, 2016 9:00 PM

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jojogarden Lakeland, FL(Zone 9b) Jul 23, 2016

Thank you, Illig1 - I appreciate your clarification. Now I'm off to look up and learn the terminology.

JoJo

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