Jan–MarApr–JunJul–SepOct–Dec
Planting
Days to maturity
Seasonal yields
Sow indoors · Direct sow · Transplant outdoors
← Explore Plants
Plant · P-529
Prickly Pear Tuna
Opuntia engelmannii
Prickly pear tuna is a fast-growing clumping cactus whose flat spiny pads and sweet red-purple fruit are both eaten - the fruit fresh or juiced, the pads cooked as a green vegetable once the spines are singed off. Cattle, sheep and goats browse the singed pads as a drought feed, though it has to be balanced with fibre and protein since the pads are mostly water. Left alone it spreads on its own, from bird-scattered seed and from broken pads that root wherever they land, so a stand needs occasional thinning to stay a hedge rather than become a thicket.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun
- USDA zone
- USDA 8–11
- Soil
- Sand · Loam · Clay
- Moisture
- Dry · Well-Drained · Moderate
Vertical layer
Shrub- Soil pH
- 6.1–7.8
- Plant type
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 3–8 ft
- Mature spread
- 3–8 ft
- Plant spacing
- 4–6 ft
- Root type
- Fibrous-shallow
- Spread pattern
- Both
Keep exploring
Similar plants
Discover more plants with shared forest layers or growing conditions.
African Blue Basil
Ocimum kilimandscharicum
African Blue Basil is a sterile hybrid between camphor basil and the purple-leaved Dark Opal basil, propagated from cuttings rather than seed…
Shrub · USDA 10–11
Agarita
Alloberberis trifoliolata
Agarita is a dense, spiny-leaved evergreen shrub of rocky limestone hills, slopes and thickets from south Texas through the Trans-Pecos to…
Shrub · USDA 7–9
Aji Amarillo
Capsicum baccatum
Aji Amarillo is a Peruvian yellow-orange chili grown for large, medium-to-very-hot pods used fresh, dried and ground - the backbone of…
Shrub · USDA 9–11
American Beautyberry
Callicarpa americana
American Beautyberry is an arching deciduous shrub of rich woods, moist thickets and swamp edges across the southeastern and south-central…
Shrub · USDA 6–10
American Elderberry
Sambucus canadensis
American Elderberry gives two harvests a year - creamy flower clusters in June for cordial, fritters and tea, and purple-black berries in…
Shrub · USDA 4–8
American Hazelnut
Corylus americana
American Hazelnut is a thicket-forming shrub that bears small, thick-shelled nuts good raw or cooked, and it pollinates itself, so a single…
Shrub · USDA 4–9
The deeper layer
Plan what comes next.
- Primary
- Locked ecological function
- Secondary
- Locked ecological function
- Byproduct
- Locked ecological function
Behind the record
- Locked research reference
- Locked research reference
- Locked research reference