Often miss labelled as Opuntia Vulgaris, Opuntia Ficus-indica has been long grown as a food crop in more arid regions across the world. Highly productive even in low rainfall areas producing many succulent and very juicy fruit. The fruit tastes a bit like a sweet water melon but can also ruin a white shirt so eat carefully. The best way to eat the fruit is to refrigerate for a few hours and then peel off and discard the hard outer skin. The rest is eaten including the seeds.

The pads are often used as tortoise food and on mature plants can reach up to 50cm in length. The grey green pads are armed with both large and small spines. The smaller spines are hair like and irritating if you stick yourself with them so thick leather gloves are recommended when handling. Very easy to grow indoors or in a cold greenhouse given a very well drained compost with lots of added grit and sharp sand. Water regularly during the warmer months but keep dry for the winter. Seems to be able to tolerate temperatures down -3 to-5c but only if the soil is kept dry. Too much moisture when cold will cause rot to set in at the base.

Our own plant stays outside but with a ventilated cloche to keep out the winter wet. They can grow very large in it's native Mexico, up to 3 to 4.5 meters with a similar spread but to keep smaller just remove some of the pads. Do this with a clean, sharp knife and during the summer so no cold damp gets into the pad before it has scared over.

Sent as a young plant in a 9cm pot.

Additional photos:

By Golf Bravo 09:40, 8 June 2007 (UTC) - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2217563
By J.M.Garg - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4188625
By No machine-readable author provided. Hippocampus~commonswiki assumed (based on copyright claims). - No machine-readable source provided. Own work assumed (based on copyright claims)., CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1465268
By J.M.Garg - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4188635