Opuntia Species, Prickly Pear Cactus, Red Buttons Opuntia

This is a very strange cactus. Supposedly a " Johnson hybrid" , connected to the one time famous Johnson cactus nursery in So. Calif. ...Read Morer /> or maybe it's a true species. My experience has been it is definitely NOT frost hardy. The unusual flowers come right out of the top of a pad. I could not get it to set seed. But where would the seed form.....inside the top of the pad itself ? Flowers are a pretty , bright orange, but do not open very widely.

Another name one might encounter is Opuntia johnsonii after Henry Johnson. It came from Peru and around Quito, Ecuador, hence the name O. quitensis.

The pads are obovate to nearly round & Flattened. Dimensions are 2.5 to 16 inches long and 2 to 5 inches wide. The flowers are supposed t...Read Moreo be an orangeish-red to an orangeish-yellow. (bright peach or pale orange color).
The plant grows anywhere from 1 to 10 feet high, sometimes low and spreading and sometimes tall & tree-like.