Shrub-like cactus with green, leaf-shaped, succulent segments covered with thorns. Forms inconspicuous leaves that fall off after germination. The aggregate fruits are borne on the sides of the cladodes (cactus segments) and are yellow to red, ovate and covered with fine prickles.
The fruit can be eaten raw after removing the hairs. In Mexico, prickly pear fruits are also used to make an alcoholic drink and the Opuntia species O. cochenilla is cultivated in order to breed the cochineal insects that produce crimson dye.
Our young plants should produce flowers next year.
Originally Mexico, nowadays distributed as far as the Mediterranean.
Tropenhaus Wolhusen
The fruit can be eaten raw after removing the hairs. In Mexico, prickly pear fruits are also used to make an alcoholic drink and the Opuntia species O. cochenilla is cultivated in order to breed the cochineal insects that produce crimson dye.
Our young plants should produce flowers next year.
