Eastern Prickly Pear

Opuntia humifusa

Description & Overview

Eastern Prickly Pear is a Wisconsin native perennial cactus, readily found in the southern part of the state. The foliage is shaped like flattened paddles and covered with sharp spines. Its bright yellow flowers give way to edible, reddish fruit.

Core Characteristics

Suggested Uses:

The Eastern Prickly Pear cactus may also be known as the Devil’s Tongue because its pad-like foliage resembles a tongue covered in stout spines. One or more flower buds can develop on the top curbed margin of each pad. The showy yellow flowers are diurnal, meaning they last only about a day. Usually, many flower buds give the plant about a month of blossoming and then are followed by edible, ovoid sessile fruits, which are a red to reddish brown color. The fruit’s flesh is green to red and either sour, sweet, or bland depending on the stage of ripeness and local ecotype.

Opuntia humifusa is a low-growing, slow-spreading plant. The upper pads will occasionally break off from the lower pads and fall to the ground. The detached pads can develop new roots, creating new plants that are clonal offsets.

Eastern Prickly Pear would be a great addition to dry planting locations such as rock gardens, sandy slopes, and sandy prairies and could even be used as a ground cover in a small area. Technically, the pads are evergreen, although they usually turn a little yellowish/brown and look quite scraggly in winter, although the pads green up nicely again come spring.

Wildlife Value:

Eastern Prickly Pear attracts myriad pollinators. Both long and short-tongued bees will visit the flowers, including Bumble bees (Bombus spp.), Eastern Carpenter bees (Xylocopa virginica), Digger bees (Melissodes spp.), Leaf-cutting bees (Megachile spp.), Plaster bees (Colletes spp.), and Halictid bees. Long-tongued bees are able to collect pollen and or nectar, while short-tongued bees collect only pollen. Larger bees are more apt to cross-pollinate the flowers.

It is a host plant for the Arge Tiger Moth (Grammia arge) and Julia’s Dicymolomia Moth (Dicymolomia julianalis), while Ottoe skippers (Hesperia ottoe) visit for nectar.

Some insects feed on the pads, such as the larval stage of the Eastern cactus-boring moth and Arge tiger moth. The Pale-margined Stink bug (Chlorochroa persimilis) will suck the juices from the plant.

The fruits and seeds are eaten by low-foraging avian and mammalian visitors, such as wild turkeys, squirrels, striped skunks, gray fox, coyotes, white-tailed deer, and ruffled grouse. Typically, wildlife avoids eating the pads of Eastern Prickly Pear because of the spines and bristles; however, the endangered Ornate Box turtle has been feeds on the pads and fruit.

If the pads become large enough, it provides nesting habitat for the Bobwhite Quail and protective cover for snakes.

Maintenance Tips:

The typical native habitat of this cactus includes sandy woods, savannas, and prairies, as well as rocky bluffs, sandstone, and limestone glades, rocky or sandy slopes along rivers and lakes, or even gravelly areas alongside railroad tracks. This is an easily grown cactus thanks to its tolerance to drought, humidity, and cold winter weather.

We recommend using thick gloves when handling the pads due to the barbed glochids as they can easily pierce human skin.

Pests/Problems:

There aren’t any insect or disease issues you need to worry about when growing Eastern Prickly Pear. Various kinds of root rot may occur when grown in soils with poor drainage or excess moisture.

Leaf Lore:

Despite having edible fruit and pear in the name, Eastern Prickly Pear is not a member of the pear family.

The genus name Opuntia was used by Gaius Plinius Secundus (A.D. 23-79) or more famously known as Pliny the Elder, a Roman author, naturalist, philosopher, and commander of the Roman Empire’s navy and army. Pliny used the term Opuntia in reference to a Greek town called “Opus” where a cactus-like plant grows. Although the cactus-like plant that does grow in the town of Opus is completely unrelated to the Eastern Prickly Pear. The specific epithet humifusa is derived from a combination of two Greek words, ‘humus’ meaning “soil” or “earth,” and ‘fusus’ meaning to “spread out” or “extend.”

Opuntia humifusa is native to all but 11 of the westernmost United States. It’s rare in Pennsylvania and endangered in Massachusetts. Unfortunately, it has been purposefully eradicated from many locations across the United States due to its sharp thorns. It is often listed as a weed; although it’s not a weed, it’s not invasive; it’s a native plant!

There is a long history of Eastern Prickly Pear being eaten by Indigenous and Hispanic peoples. The fruits are edible and can be eaten raw after removing the skin and can be made into jellies, candies, and other sweets. The pads are also edible and have been roasted and eaten as a vegetable. Today, the plants are farmed, and both the pads (known as Nopalito) and the fruits (known as Tuna) are found in groceries across the U.S. and Mexico. There are many recipes on the internet for using both Tuna and Nopalito. David Griffith’s “The Tuna as Food for Man” published in 1907 and supported by the U.S. Department of Food and Agriculture, discusses the consumption of Eastern Prickly Pear and its culinary usage.

Instead of foraging wild plants, we recommend purchasing them through a grocery store and letting the wildlife enjoy the rest.

Companion Plants:

Eastern Prickly Pear thrives in hot, sunny, and dry planting locations. Pair with other plants that enjoy the same conditions, such as Leadplant, Common Spiderwort, Pale Purple Coneflower, Wild Senna, Butterflyweed, Rough Blazing Star, Tall Cinquefoil, Showy Goldenrod, Wild Quinine, Early Wild Rose, or Heath Aster.

EASTERN PRICKLY PEAR BENCHCARD