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Angel's-wings

Opuntia microdasys

Also called Yellow Bunny Ears, Bunny Ears Prickly Pear, Golden Bristle, Golden Bristle Cactus, Bunny Ears Cactus, Cow Blinder, Dwarf Cactus

Angel's-wings
Photo: Stan Shebs, CC BY-SA 3.0

Angel's-wings is a small, spineless-looking prickly pear cactus from central and northern Mexico, forming a dense shrub of flattened pads covered in tiny barbed glochids. Grow it in full sun with very sparing water and gritty, fast-draining soil, and handle it with tongs or gloves.

Family
Cactaceae (Cactus family)
Grows as
Succulent
Light
Full sun
Water
Water deeply only when the soil is fully dry, and reduce or stop in winter.
Soil
Fast-draining cactus or succulent mix with added grit or pumice.
Temperature
18–30 °C; protect below 5 °C
How easy
Easy
Native range
Mexico
Climate
desert or dry shrubland

About

Opuntia microdasys (angel's-wings, bunny ears cactus, bunny cactus or polka-dot cactus) is a species of flowering plant in the cactus family, Cactaceae. It is native and endemic to central and northern Mexico.

Where it grows

Native to Mexico, naturalised in Kenya, Malawi, and Tanzania. One reason for the success of O. microdasys in desert habitats - at home and as an introduction - is its efficient fog collection ability. The hairs have the perfect structure and microstructure to capture and channel fog.

Other Opuntia plants

Chenille pricklypear · Cochineal nopal cactus · Erect pricklypear · Cactus apple · Barbary fig · Opuntia huajuapensis · Devil's-tongue · Opuntia lagunae · Coastal pricklypear · Purple pricklypear · Twistspine pricklypear · Opuntia matudae

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Opuntia microdasys 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.

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