Prickly Pear Cactus

Yellow, orange, pink, or red, prickly pear cacti light up the desert with their large blooms in the spring and early summer.

NPS/ Kenneth Ingham

Blooming in early May, the vivid pink flowers of prickly pear cacti bring a pop of color to an otherwise muted desert landscape. The small bluish bristles on the flat pancake-like pads provide protection for this tasty and nutritious plant from predators such as deer, squirrels, and tortoises. Insects pollinate the plant’s bright flowers that will give way to sweet juicy fruit and a bundle of seeds in the late summer. While the cactus may reproduce from these seeds it is not the most viable way to produce offspring.

Prickly pear cacti also depend on cloning for replication. The pads of the plant are actually stems that grow from a section of the plant called a joint. Large heavy pads, wind, predation, and age are factors in when a joint and attached pad may break away from the rest of the plant. Once this happens the joint begins to grow shallow roots, even in dry soil, to create a clone of the plant. Cloned mounds of prickly pear may contain hundreds of clones and grow to over 14 feet wide. These large colonies provide essential shelter for animals such as rattlesnakes and birds.