Opuntia oricola

Chaparral pricklypear

Family: Cactaceae · Type: tree · Native

Chaparral pricklypear is a California native tree found in southern California coastal regions, Channel Islands, western Transverse Ranges, and western Peninsula Ranges in coastal-sage scrub and chaparral at elevations of 3 to 450 meters. Flowering from April to June, this plant produces yellow inner perianth flowers with orange-yellow filaments and a distinctive red style with green stigma. Growing as a tree-like succulent up to 2.5 meters tall with generally ascending to spreading branches, it has distinctive green segments 16 to 25 centimeters long. Its areoles bear 5 to 13 spines, with the longest spines reaching 2 to 2.5 centimeters, curved, rigid, and translucent yellow. The fruit is a juicy, spherical purple-red orb 3.7 to 6 centimeters long with white-yellow interior and red seed-pulp.

Habitat: Coastal-sage scrub, chaparral

Bloom period: Apr-Jun

Elevation: 3-450 m

Bioregions: SCo, ChI, WTR, w PR

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

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