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Purple Prickly Pear Cactus

Opuntia macrocentra

Photo by Ava T-B
Published on Project Noah
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32.7349, -117.097

Field Notes

Description:

A purple to mint green pad cactus from the desert Southwest U.S. When it is drought stressed it turns more red while new pads are mint green. 2" flowers in April and May.

Notes:

This is differentiated from a Santa Rita Prickly Pear by the long spines at the top of the pad.

Reference Links:

Opuntia santa-rita - Santa Rita Pricklypear, Santa Rita Prickly Pear, Purple Pr…

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (5)
Ava T-B
Thanks Goody for your help Identifying this cactus!
Ava T-B
never bad! I just need to research it a little. The guy who sold it to me called it a silver-dollar opunti, but common names are so unreliable.

Spotted for Missions

Mission
WILD Cities: Urban Biodiversity
Mission
Southern California Wildlife
Mission
Nature in Yellow
Photographed
PublishedSeptember 12, 2011

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