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Prickly Pear Cactus
Opuntia
36.7015, -118.756
Field Notes
Description:
The Prickly Pear Cactus has many names such as: Opuntia, also known as nopales or paddle cactus.
The Prickly pear cactus has been a Mexican and Central American diet for thousands of years. The prickly pear plant has three different sections that you can eat: the pad of the cactus (nopal), which can be treated like a vegetable, the petals of the flowers, which can be added to salads, and the pear (tuna), which can be treated like a fruit.
The Prickly Pear Cactus is actualy healthy! It is promoted for treating diabetes and high cholesterol. The Prickly Pear Cactus contains fiber and pectin, which can lower blood glucose by decreasing the absorption of sugar in the stomach and intestine. Some researchers think that it might also decrease cholesterol levels, and kill viruses in the body.
Habitat:
Although I found this one in Viewpoint's ecolet, here is where they usually grow:
Prickly pears typically grow with flat, rounded cladodes (also called platyclades). Many types of prickly pears grow into dense bushes.
They grow wild throughout the American southwest, down to South America and up to Canada.
Notes:
In the reference I have the steps on how to eat a prickly pear cactus.
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