Beavertail Prickly Pear
Opuntia basilaris
A low prickly pear with blue-gray, beavertail-shaped pads that erupt in vivid magenta flowers in spring. Beware the tiny barbed glochids that replace the usual spines. Like other prickly pears, the pads (nopales) and sweet fruit (tunas) are traditional foods once the spines are removed.
- Family
- Cactaceae
- Type
- tree
- Lifespan
- perennial
- Height
- 0.5–1.5 ft
- Spacing
- 2–4 ft apart
- Light
- sun
- Soil moisture
- dry
- Soil pH
- neutral, alkaline
- Bloom
- February, March, April, May, June
- Bloom colors
- red, pink, purple
- Wildlife value
- pollinators
- Landscape uses
- foundation, groundcover, container, erosion control
- Native states
- AZ, CA, NV, UT
Related native plants
More Opuntia species
- Engelmann's Prickly Pear (Opuntia engelmannii)
- Eastern Prickly Pear (Opuntia humifusa)
- Tulip Prickly Pear (Opuntia phaeacantha)
- Plains Prickly Pear (Opuntia macrorhiza)
- Purple Prickly Pear (Opuntia macrocentra)
- Santa Rita Prickly Pear (Opuntia santa-rita)