Opuntia Species, Prickly Pear Cactus

This plant is sometimes sold locally as Opuntia riverina, due to one of its common Riverina pear. It is fast growing and in time can rea...Read Morech 10' in height and spread, although 3'-5' is more of the common size. Orange flowers appear from late spring throughout summer. Small fruits are purple. This plant does poorly in winter shades and may not grow or bloom at all. I read somewhere that this plant is banned in Australia due to the fact that it may become invasive or a weed in the right conditions. But it looks beautiful as a landscape plant.

The flowers of Opuntia elata are orange to yellow, the fruit is club shaped and purple-red when ripe. The pads will occasionally e...Read Morexhibit white straight spines up to 4-6 inches long. In 2011 Opuntia paraguayensis and Opuntia elata were re-assessed and it was determined that the plants' accepted name was to be Opuntia elata and that Opuntia paraguayensis was actually a synonym of Opuntia ficus-indica.