FNA: Opuntia ficus-indica

	Opuntia ficus-indica
	barbary fig, Indian-fig pricklypear, mission prickly-pear, nopal de castilla, tuna, tuna cactus
Habit	Trees, 3–6 m; trunk to 30–45 cm diam.
Stem	segments green, broadly oblong to ovate to narrowly elliptic, (20–)4–60 × 2–3+ cm, low tuberculate; areoles 7–11 per diagonal row across midstem segment, rhombic to subcircular, 2–4(–5) mm diam.; wool brown.
Spines	1–6 per areole, absent or very highly reduced, or in marginal to nearly all areoles, erect to spreading, whitish, tan, or brown, setaceous only or setaceous and subulate, straight to slightly curved, basally angular-flattened, 1–10(–40) mm; 0–2 small bristlelike deflexed spines to 5 mm.
Glochids	along adaxial margin of areole and small, inconspicuous tuft, yellowish, aging brown, less than 2 mm.
Flowers	inner tepals yellow to orange throughout, 25–50 mm; filaments and anthers yellow; style bright red; stigma lobes yellow.
Fruits	yellow to orange to purple, 50–100 × 40–90 mm, fleshy to ± juicy, glabrous, usually spineless; areoles 45–60, evenly distributed on fruit.
Seeds	pale tan, subcircular, 4–5 mm diam., warped; girdle protruding to 1 mm.
2n	= 88.

	Opuntia ficus-indica
Phenology	Flowering spring (Apr).
Habitat	Coastal chaparral, sage scrub, arid uplands, washes, canyons, disturbed sites
Elevation	0-300 m (0-1000 ft)
Distribution	AZ; CA; Mexico [Introduced in North America] [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]
Discussion	R. P. Wunderlin (1998) listed this taxon in Florida, but I have not seen specimens. Opuntia ficus-indica, cultivated nearly worldwide, is presumed to be a native of Mexico, but is definitely known only from cultivation or escapes from cultivation. The species has been used for cattle feed, ornament, and fuel. As human food, the young stem segments, “nopalitos,” are eaten as salad or pickled as a vegetable, and the large delicious fruits, “tunas,” are enjoyed in tropical and subtropical regions worldwide. This species probably originated through selection by native peoples of Mexico for spineless forms of Opuntia streptacantha (also 2n = 88) to ease the culturing and collection of cochineal scale insects for their red dye. Numerous cultivar names are known. Naturalized Opuntia ficus-indica (octoploid, spiny morphotype) is known to hybridize in central California with O. phaeacantha (hexaploid), forming a heptaploid with usually intermediate morphology. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source	FNA vol. 4, p. 142.
Parent taxa	Cactaceae > subfam. Opuntioideae > Opuntia
Sibling taxa	O. aciculata, O. atrispina, O. aurea, O. aureispina, O. basilaris, O. chisosensis, O. chlorotica, O. cubensis, O. ellisiana, O. engelmannii, O. fragilis, O. humifusa, O. littoralis, O. macrocentra, O. macrorhiza, O. microdasys, O. oricola, O. phaeacantha, O. pinkavae, O. polyacantha, O. pottsii, O. pusilla, O. rufida, O. santa-rita, O. stricta, O. strigil, O. tortispina, O. triacantha, O. ×columbiana, O. ×curvispina, O. ×occidentalis, O. ×spinosibacca, O. ×vaseyi
Synonyms	Cactus ficus-indica, Cactus opuntia, O. compressa, O. vulgaris
Name authority	(Linnaeus) Miller: Gard. Dict. ed. 8, Opuntia no. 2. (1768)
Web links	Local floras: CA Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search

Opuntia ficus-indica

barbary fig, Indian-fig pricklypear, mission prickly-pear, nopal de castilla, tuna, tuna cactus

Habit

Trees, 3–6 m; trunk to 30–45 cm diam.

Stem

segments green, broadly oblong to ovate to narrowly elliptic, (20–)4–60 × 2–3+ cm, low tuberculate;

areoles 7–11 per diagonal row across midstem segment, rhombic to subcircular, 2–4(–5) mm diam.;

wool brown.

Spines

1–6 per areole, absent or very highly reduced, or in marginal to nearly all areoles, erect to spreading, whitish, tan, or brown, setaceous only or setaceous and subulate, straight to slightly curved, basally angular-flattened, 1–10(–40) mm; 0–2 small bristlelike deflexed spines to 5 mm.

Glochids

along adaxial margin of areole and small, inconspicuous tuft, yellowish, aging brown, less than 2 mm.

Flowers

inner tepals yellow to orange throughout, 25–50 mm;

filaments and anthers yellow;

style bright red;

stigma lobes yellow.

Fruits

yellow to orange to purple, 50–100 × 40–90 mm, fleshy to ± juicy, glabrous, usually spineless;

areoles 45–60, evenly distributed on fruit.

Seeds

pale tan, subcircular, 4–5 mm diam., warped;

girdle protruding to 1 mm.

= 88.

Opuntia ficus-indica

Phenology

Flowering spring (Apr).

Habitat

Coastal chaparral, sage scrub, arid uplands, washes, canyons, disturbed sites

Elevation

0-300 m (0-1000 ft)

Distribution

AZ; CA; Mexico [Introduced in North America]

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]

Discussion

R. P. Wunderlin (1998) listed this taxon in Florida, but I have not seen specimens.

Opuntia ficus-indica, cultivated nearly worldwide, is presumed to be a native of Mexico, but is definitely known only from cultivation or escapes from cultivation. The species has been used for cattle feed, ornament, and fuel. As human food, the young stem segments, “nopalitos,” are eaten as salad or pickled as a vegetable, and the large delicious fruits, “tunas,” are enjoyed in tropical and subtropical regions worldwide.

This species probably originated through selection by native peoples of Mexico for spineless forms of Opuntia streptacantha (also 2n = 88) to ease the culturing and collection of cochineal scale insects for their red dye. Numerous cultivar names are known.

Naturalized Opuntia ficus-indica (octoploid, spiny morphotype) is known to hybridize in central California with O. phaeacantha (hexaploid), forming a heptaploid with usually intermediate morphology.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source

FNA vol. 4, p. 142.

Parent taxa

Cactaceae > subfam. Opuntioideae > Opuntia

Sibling taxa

O. aciculata, O. atrispina, O. aurea, O. aureispina, O. basilaris, O. chisosensis, O. chlorotica, O. cubensis, O. ellisiana, O. engelmannii, O. fragilis, O. humifusa, O. littoralis, O. macrocentra, O. macrorhiza, O. microdasys, O. oricola, O. phaeacantha, O. pinkavae, O. polyacantha, O. pottsii, O. pusilla, O. rufida, O. santa-rita, O. stricta, O. strigil, O. tortispina, O. triacantha, O. ×columbiana, O. ×curvispina, O. ×occidentalis, O. ×spinosibacca, O. ×vaseyi

Synonyms

Cactus ficus-indica, Cactus opuntia, O. compressa, O. vulgaris

Name authority

(Linnaeus) Miller: Gard. Dict. ed. 8, Opuntia no. 2. (1768)

Web links

Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).

Choose a data source: Flora of North America

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Opuntia ficus-indica

Opuntia ficus-indica