Desert Prickly Pear, Brown-spined Prickly Pear, Tulip Prickly Pear, Nopal, Bastard Fig Opuntia phaeacantha Cactus Family (Cactaceae)

Found in dry areas, rocky slopes, open woodlands
Seen blooming on June 24, 2018 in Abiquiu

Prickly Pear grows to 20” hugging the ground in low clumps. Flowers can be lemon yellow, orange or pink and often have reddish centers. Pads are oval in shape, up to 10" long, with widely-spaced brown-tipped spines. There are numerous minutely barbed hairs at the base of the spines that are easily dislodged when the plant is touched and can become stuck to the skin where they are difficult to see and remove. The fruits are red to purple, without spines. The fruit is edible and is eaten fresh or dried, made into jams, jellies, juice and wine; pads are also edible and are prepared by roasting, boiling, or pulping and making into cakes; the seeds are ground into flour. The juice of the boiled stem segments is very sticky. It is added to plaster, whitewash etc. to make it adhere better to walls. Source.
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If you want to identify a different flower then you might find it useful to check what was blooming this time last year. If you cannot identify a flower from the website send a photo and where you took it to [email protected]. Read online for tips.   

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