Prickly Pear Cactus...........

[Kelley (Texas)]

This past Saturday evening, while taking a few pictures up off Farm to Market Road 2252 near Old Comal Town, Texas, I spotted this Prickly Pear Cactus growing along side of a fence post. It is getting ready to bloom and I will keep a watch on it so that I can get pictures of the flowers when it blooms. The plant appears to be healthy and I am going to ask the land owner if I can clip the plant, then plant the clipping in my back yard. You never know what you will run across when out in the field taking pictures. Kelley (Texas)

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[Detector Man]

The ones ive seen aruond here have already bloomed...dotn know if this an all summer blooming cactus...Kelley as you probably kow the Hispanics cook the leaves and eat them..about a year a go we met someone who told us that once the flower is done blooming there is a "fruit" left and that is eatable.
So that day we went to my cactus (a different one) and the person ate a chunk of the "fruit"...my wife was offered a fruit (from our cactus) and ate it and told me it tasted like a kiwi and she liked it...im not that brave and i didnt try it.

 

[Kelley (Texas)]

I was surprised to see that it was getting ready to bloom because most the ones have already bloomed. I do know that some folks make jelly from the fruits because I have seen jars of the jelly at the county fairs. Kelley (Texas)

 

[Roscue2]

That is a big cactus Kelley. My father has planted some around the front of his 10 acre property to mark the little mounds that he can't mow over. As far as I know he hasn't eaten any of them yet, but he only planted them a year or so ago. They have been growing, although of the 20 or so he planted a few did not survive the winter.