Opuntia polyacantha var. erinacea

Mojave prickly-pear, grizzly bear prickly-pear, Grizzly Bear Prickly-Pear

Family: Cactaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Mojave prickly-pear is a California native shrub found in southeastern Sierra Nevada, San Bernardino Mountains, San Jacinto Mountains, northeastern Sierra Nevada, and eastern Mojave Desert regions in desert scrub, Joshua-tree woodland, and pinyon woodland at elevations of 900 to 2,200 meters. Flowering from May to June, this plant produces pale flowers with distinctive spiny areoles covering its segments. Growing as a robust desert shrub with stems 30 to 100 centimeters tall, it features 4 to 24 spines per areole that are generally pale and longest on the oldest stem segments. Its stems have remarkable spines ranging from hair-like and curling near the base to straight and ascending at the tips, with spines measuring 1.7 to 18.5 centimeters long. The plant produces spiny fruit with 20 to 33 areoles, each containing 7 to 13 spines, making it a distinctive and well-defended desert succulent.

Habitat: Desert scrub, Joshua-tree woodland, pinyon woodland

Bloom period: May-Jun

Elevation: 900-2200 m

Bioregions: se SNH, SnBr, SnJt, SNE, DMoj (esp DMtns)

California counties: San Bernardino, Inyo, Mono, Riverside, Tulare, San Diego

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