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Opuntia arenaria
Sand prickly pear is a low, clump-forming desert cactus that spreads by underground rhizomes and can grow in nearly pure sand. It is a species treated by some botanists as a variety of O. polyacantha, and it needs full sun, sharp drainage and very little water.
Opuntia arenaria was considered a variety of O. polyacantha by many botanists, and is still treated that way in the Flora of North America. However, O. arenaria is diploid and O. polyacantha is tetraploid. It was described by Engelmann in 1856.
Big Pine Key Prickly Pear · Chenille pricklypear · Texas Plains Pricklypear · Devil's-tongue · Opuntia anacantha · Opuntia anahuacensis · Border pricklypear · Opuntia auberi · Tiger-pear · Golden pricklypear · Devil's-tongue · New Mexico Prickly Pear
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Opuntia arenaria by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
