Opuntia engelmannii var. engelmannii

Engelmann prickly-pear, Engelmann Prickly-Pear

Family: Cactaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Engelmann prickly-pear is a native shrub found in southern desert mountains, eastern Peninsular Ranges, and Desert Mountains in desert scrub and dry oak woodland at elevations of 900 to 1,500 meters. Flowering from March to May, this plant produces large yellow flowers with white filaments and a yellow-green stigma. Growing as a mound-forming shrub less than 1 meter tall, it develops gray-green segments with distinctive yellow spines 4 to 5 centimeters long, often with chalky-white coating and reddish-brown bases. Its segments are generally obovate, spreading to ascending, with areoles containing 3 to 12 spines that are straight and somewhat appressed to the stem. The fruit is juicy and red-purple, reaching 4 to 6.5 centimeters long and containing seeds 4 to 6 millimeters in size.

Habitat: Desert scrub, dry oak woodland

Bloom period: Mar-May

Elevation: 900-1500 m

Bioregions: SnJt, e PR, DMtns

California counties: San Diego, San Bernardino, Riverside

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.