Plant Name

Scientific Name: Opuntia aciculata

Synonyms: Opuntia engelmannii var. aciculata, O. lindheimeri var. aciculata

Common Names: Chenille Pricklypear, Chenille Prickly Pear, Cowboy's Red Whiskers

Plant Characteristics

Duration: Perennial

Growth Habit: Shrub, Cactus

Arizona Native Status: Introduced. This attractive ornamental cactus is native to Texas, but it has escaped cultivation here and can be seen growing in adjacent areas of natural desert vegetation.

Habitat: Desert

Flower Color: Red, Orange, Yellow

Flowering Season: Spring

Height: To 3 feet (0.9 m) tall

Description: The flowers are large and showy and have broad, point-tipped, red, orange, or yellow tepals, green stigma lobes, and a cream to pink style and anther filaments. The flowers are followed by spineless green fruits that ripen to a purplish red color. The stem pads are green and dotted with bundles of spiny brown glochids (micro-spines).

Classification

Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Caryophyllidae
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Cactaceae – Cactus family
Genus: Opuntia Mill. – pricklypear
Species: Opuntia aciculata Griffiths – chenille pricklypear