Photo by Jim Jung. All rights reserved.

Prickly Pear Cactus

It always surprises people to discover that we have our own native species of cactus right here in the midwest - the Prickly Pear. Astonishment rises even further when these same individuals discover that the odd, pear-shaped fruits that appear along the edge of the cactus pads are not only edible but sweet and tasty as well - a refreshing treat when discovered during hot autumn hikes.

Prickly Pear Cactus, one of two species native to our area, sends out its blazing yellow flowers around the Summer Solstice. The attractive but short-lived flowers with the red centers appear, attract their pollinators, and then drop off leaving the fertilized ovary behind. Over the course of the summer the ovary swells into a small, prickly, pear-shaped fruit about two inches long that line the edges of the cactus pads. When ripe they turn a deep purplish red. Filled with seeds surrounded by a sweet pulpy goo these fruits are an invigorating treat when encountered on fall hikes.

Photo by Jim Jung. All rights reserved

The Prickly Pear is found throughout our area in dry, exposed, sunny locations along cliffs and rock ledges. Should you discover a cactus patch with ripe seed pods walk carefully since the thin soils and the long-ranging roots they harbor are easily damaged. In fact all wild cacti in our area should be given a wide berth since they're both uncommon and their root systems easily destroyed by the careless.

If you want to sample the fruits they're best collected from gardens in town where they're frequently cultivated. Should you decide to sample this desert delicacy eat even more carefully because the pods are protected with a fringe of nearly microscopic spines. The spines are most easily removed by singing them off with the flame of a cigarette lighter before opening them up to eat.

Also, as there's more interest in hispanic cuisine in our area, you may be able to find the fruits in a Mexican grocery, or your local supermarket may be able to order them in. The pads themselves are also edible, but our experience with a friend's cultivated plant has been such that we advise you to buy them commercially, as those will be larger and tastier than our local pads; besides which, collecting the pads could seriously set back or kill the local plant.

Prickly Pears are one of a suite of plants occurring along the edges of rocky sandstone bluffs where thin soils and rapid drainage create tiny mini-deserts. The plants inhabiting these barrens as they're sometimes called are the last survivors in our area of the biota of the Younger Dryas - a time when the earth both heated up and dried out about eight thousand years ago. During this time the forests retreated into well-watered valleys while the hills and ridgetops supported shortgrass prairie and desert plant and animal communities now found much further west and south. The Prickly Pear is a survivor from that much drier time and is currently just hanging on, literally. Should the dry times ever return (and they eventually will) the Prickly Pear will return to its more dominant place in a very different ecosystem.

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