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Project Noah Nature School
Opuntia
Unsure of cultivar.
Suburban backyard. Cultivated.
Spotted on Aug 30, 2012
Submitted on Sep 7, 2012
2 Comments
I'm pretty sure that it is a cultivar. Cactus are edible but you have to get all of the thorns off of them. The domestic use is pretty rare now but still there. My mother used to scrape the thorns and make it with our eggs out on camping trips. I liked it as a child so it must have been good. Cactus jelly is pretty common too.
This is a prickly pear cactus, possibly Opuntia humifusa. Not sure if there are cultivars for domestic use or if this is a wild cactus worked into landscaping. See http://97.67.50.31/resources/wildlifehab... for more information.