New Mexico Prickly Pear, Nopal

These common, robust plants often grow to 4 feet or more in height, sometimes forming dense thickets many feet across. The pads are flat, spherical to egg-shaped, 4-9 inches long by 3-7 inches wide. Fast growing when compared to most other cactus species. The color ranges from bluish-green to deep green. They have numerous barbless spines that may be up to 3 inches long. At the base of the spines and frequently along the tops of the pads are tiny spines called glochids which, once imbedded in the flesh, are difficult to see but quite painful to endure.

Flowers of this plant are yellow or orange, about 3 inches wide and may have a maroon to bright red center. The plant usually blooms in the late spring or early summer.

Fruits, which ripen in late summer, are large, up to 3 inches long and an inch or more in diameter. The fruits have numerous patches of glochids which makes handling the fruit bare-handed an uncomfortable exercise.The color is a deep red when fully ripe. The flesh of the fruits contains the tiny, hard seeds which are about 1/8 inch in diameter.

Both the tender, young pads and the ripe fruits (with the glochids removed with a flame) are edible.