Opuntia littoralis

Coast prickly pear

Family: Cactaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Coast prickly pear is a native shrub found in southern California coastal regions, Channel Islands, and southern Peninsular Ranges in coastal-sage scrub and chaparral at elevations of 8 to 400 meters. Flowering from April to June, this plant produces inner perianth flowers ranging from yellow to dull red with orange-yellow filaments and striking yellow-green stigmas. Growing in sprawling clumps up to 9 meters in diameter with branches spreading to 1.5 meters tall, it forms distinctive segments 15 to 22 centimeters long that are gray-green and oblong-elliptic. Its areoles feature 4 to 11 spines, with the longest reaching 2 to 4 centimeters, typically yellow and straight, spreading or reflexed with a white coating. The fruit is a juicy, dark red-purple structure 3.5 to 5 centimeters long, containing small seeds 3 to 4.5 millimeters in size.

Habitat: Coastal-sage scrub, chaparral

Bloom period: Apr-Jun

Elevation: 8-400 m

Bioregions: SCo, ChI, s PR

California counties: Orange, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Ventura, Santa Barbara, Riverside, Santa Cruz, Santa Clara

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