Tulip Pricklypear, Opuntia engelmannii

About Tulip Pricklypear (Opuntia engelmannii) 5 Nurseries Carry This Plant

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Opuntia engelmannii is a prickly pear common across the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. It goes by a variety of common names, including "cow's tongue cactus", "cow tongue prickly pear", "desert prickly pear", "discus prickly pear", "Engelmann's prickly pear", and "Texas prickly pear" in the US, and "nopal", "abrojo", "joconostle", and "vela de coyote" in Mexico. Its overall form is generally shrubby, with dense clumps up to 3.5 meter high, usually with no apparent trunk. The pads are green (rarely blue-green), obovate to round, about 15-30 centimeter long and 12-20 centimeter wide. The glochids are yellow initially, then brown with age. Spines are extremely variable, with anywhere from 1-8 per areole, and often absent from lower areoles; they are yellow to white, slightly flattened, and 1-6 centimeter long. The flowers are yellow, occasionally reddish, 5-8 centimeter in diameter and about as long. The purple fleshy fruits are 3-7 centimeter long.

Plant Description

Plant Type

Shrub, Succulent

Size

6 - 12 ft tall

Flower Color

Yellow, White, Purple, Red

Flowering Season

Spring

Wildlife Supported

Butterflies & moths hosted ( 4 likely * ) SHOW ALL

Pseudoschinia elautalisPseudoschinia elautalis

Dyotopasta yumaellaDyotopasta yumaella

Laetilia dilatifasciellaLaetilia dilatifasciella

Dicymolomia opuntialisDicymolomia opuntialis

Landscaping Information

Sun

Full Sun, Part Shade

Moisture

Extremely Low, Very Low

Nurseries

Carried by 5

Ease of Care

Moderately Easy

Common uses

Hedges, Bird Gardens

Natural Setting

Site Type

Desert and dry places

Climate

Annual Precipitation: 6.7" - 30.0", Summer Precipitation: 0.42" - 3.11", Coldest Month: 39.3" - 53.1", Hottest Month: 61.8" - 80.2", Humidity: 2.77" - 30.46", Elevation: 1822" - 7763"

Alternative Names

Botanical Names: Opuntia phaeacantha
Common Names: Cactus Apple, Cow Tongue Prickly Pear, Cow's Tongue Cactus

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Sources include: Wikipedia. All text shown in the "About" section of these pages is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Plant observation data provided by the participants of the California Consortia of Herbaria, Sunset information provided by Jepson Flora Project. Propogation from seed information provided by the Santa Barbara Botanical Garden from "Seed Propagation of Native California Plants" by Dara E. Emery. Sources of plant photos include CalPhotos, Wikimedia Commons, and independent plant photographers who have agreed to share their images with Calscape. Other general sources of information include Calflora, CNPS Manual of Vegetation Online, Jepson Flora Project, Las Pilitas, Theodore Payne, Tree of Life, The Xerces Society, and information provided by CNPS volunteer editors, with special thanks to Don Rideout. Climate data used in creation of plant range maps is from PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University, using 30 year (1981-2010) annual "normals" at an 800 meter spatial resolution.

Links: Jepson eFlora Taxon Page CalPhotos Wikipedia Calflora

Tulip Pricklypear

Opuntia engelmannii

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Tulip PricklypearOpuntia engelmannii

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Tulip Pricklypear

Opuntia engelmannii