Prickly Pear, Cochineal Nopal Cactus

Is it just me, or are there multiple plants with very different cladodes included in this species?
One kind seem to be more commo...Read Moren with the skinny, long, almost cylindrical or crescent-shaped pads. (The one in Palmbob's garden photo.)
Then there is another plant with pads which almost look similar to Brasiliopuntia/hybrids or something, and look much more flattened and quite a bit wider. (Many of the "cochenillifera" on eBay, etc.) Am I crazy?

I'll vouch for the "grows anywhere" comment of another poster. I found this growing in a bouganvillea hedge at the side of the road. Th...Read Moree thing was mostly shaded during the day, but it's green, firm, unwrinkled and healthy looking. It looks like it's spawned several new plants of it's own and the cactus hedge is slowly spreading along the boulevard.

I took a good-sized pad with two new pads growing off of that as a cutting. They have narrow joins between pads, so it's easy enough to gently pop it off without damage to the parent plant. The spines are pretty few, but watch out for some of them- they can be up an inch and a half long, but most of them are so tiny as to be nearly invisible. The flesh between the spines on the newer pads is a rich, deep green and smooth- a very nice texture to the touch, actually, and the skin gets progressively more woody and cracked closer to the ground if it's an old plant..

Now we'll see how it grows in my container-garden! I'm looking forward to the gorgeous fuschia flowers...

This species has been reported as having medicinal uses and the wood is used for furniture.

This species (also know as Nopalea cochenilifera) grows well in almost every place I´ve ever been. Humid, dry, moist, misty, full...Read More sun, partial shade - it just keeps growing. And, as the fruits are very attractive for birds and bats, the seeds are spread everywhere, and so this species propagates efficiently, turning out to be invasive under optimal conditions.

This cactus can be grown as a shrub, and may look atractive as it, and the spines won´t do much harm since they are tiny and soft. On the fruits (and the ovaria too, the green part below the flowers), however, they are rigid, and tend to stick on you and penetrate in your skin. It will take weeks until you body gets rid of it, so be very careful when manipulating it to get seeds - or when manipulating the flowers.

Ah, the flowers. They are the good part of this plant. Pink, with many short petals, tubular, lots of stamens coming out of the tube and a long pistil, this is a good plant for hummingbirds.

It will grow in any kind of drained soil, and will resist to droughts, but you should water it regularly. It likes full sun and high temperatures, but will tolerate some shade. Can be propagated by cuttings and seeds (these need to be fermented, to simulate the digestive tract of the natural dispersors). This species, amongst other Opuntias, can be eaten once you cut the fibrous surface off the stem, although it´s not the tastiest food in the world.