Island Ecology for Educators 2019 - Eastern Prickly Pear

Eastern Prickly Pear

Sydney Marenick

Introduction

Have you ever stepped on or touched a cactus? If you have, you know they can hurt from the spines that protect them. The eastern prickly pear cactus is a cactus that is different from other cactus. The eastern prickly pear cactus is a smaller type of cactus with interesting shaped leaves or pads. Do not let the fact that it is small and has smaller spines fool you into letting your guard down when you are around them.

The eastern prickly pear was documented as early as 1588 when the “English mathematician and astronomer Thomas Harlot (1560-1621) sailed to Roanoke Island off the coast of North Carolina” (Mussulman, J. (2011, August). He described the plant and the fruit and thought the fruit on the plant tasted like pears. The plants were also later described by Lewis and Clark on their expedition across the country. (Mussulman, J. (2011, August)

The eastern prickly pear cactus is a cactus that grows close to the ground. The leaves are normally flat and large and can be oval or round in shape. The leaves tend to grow thick when they have plenty of water and are healthy but they can be thin and grow at odd angles. The cactus grows sharp spines that come from the leaves. Some of the spines can be easily seen, but some are not seen. The eastern prickly pear cactus only flowers for a short period of time and then produces a fruit (Prickly Pear Cactus (n.d.)).

Marenick 2019 at Carolina Beach State Park

Taxonomy

The eastern prickly pear cactus has different names, which include: nopal, “Hardy Prickly pear, prickly pear cactus, and prickly-pear” (Opuntia humifusa, 2019).“Low Prickly Pear, Smooth Prickly Pear and Devil’s Tongue” (Plant Database, (n.d.)).

The scientific name for the Prickly Pear cactus is “Opuntia humifusa”, and “In older botanical manuals, it is often listed as Opuntia compressa.” (Taylor, D.,(n.d.)).

The Prickly Pear cactus is in the Genus of Opuntia, and produces flowers.

Domain: Eukarya

Kingdom: Plantae

Phylum: Magnoliophyta

Class: Magnoliopsida

Order: Caryophyllales

Family: Cactaceae

Genus: Opuntia

Species: Opunita Humifusa

Marenick 2019 at Carolina Beach State Park

Niche and Habitat

The eastern prickly pear cactus is generally a low growing cactus that stays close to the ground. They tend to grow in areas that are dry and have sandy soil or soil with low nutrition. The cactus has a root system that helps store water and this makes it better suited for dry, sandy, or desert areas. The cactus can be found in a large number of different areas in the United States ranging from New Mexico and Montana, all the way to the east coast. The map below includes all the places that prickly pear cactus can be found in the United States.

The eastern prickly pear produces fruit after it flowers. In the food web, the fruit is eaten, mostly by animals. Humans can also eat the fruit. Humans tend to use the pads more for food in addition to other uses. The prickly pear can be found naturally in Carolina Beach State Park.

(Taylor, D., (n.d.))

Marenick 2019 at Carolina Beach State Park

Evolutionary History

The prickly pear’s scientific name, Opuntia humifusa, is from a translation of Greek. The eastern prickly pear cactus is found in environments from the ocean to the mountains. Many factors that can affect the growth of plants, such as water, “strong winds, sudden temperature changes, soil nutrient deficiency and the presence of salts and toxic substances in the environment” helped the eastern prickly pear cactus to evolve. As a result of the negative conditions the plant faced, the plant changed its leaves to spines.(Natural History. (n.d.)).

The eastern prickly pear cactus has also adapted by having spines on their pads that are both visible and not visible to protect them. The pads of the prickly pear cactus are needed for photosynthesis and they also store water. “Unlike most plants, the prickly pear absorbs the carbon monoxide necessary for metabolism at night this preventing water loss” (Natural History. (n.d.)). Without the protection of the spines, the pads would be readily eaten by animals. (Osterbrink, S., 2007).

The root system of the prickly pear cactus has evolved to do best in dry places and does not do well in areas that have constant rainfall because then the roots will rot. The plant also has the ability to spread easily from location to location. If a pad is knocked off the plant, roots will usually form so a new plant will grow. Animals eating the fruit can also spread the seeds through their droppings. (Natural History. (n.d.))

The cactus also grows a flower. This helps the cactus become pollinated and attracts different insects to the plant.

Marenick 2019 at Carolina Beach State Park

Environmental Impacts

The most significant environmental impact on the prickly pear cactus is weather. The prickly pear cactus does best in direct sunlight, and in drier areas that tend to be desert-like. The cactus does not need much water and so if there is a flood, the cactus roots would rot.(Opuntia ficus-indica (prickly pear), 2019).

Other than weather, other environmental impacts on the prickly pear cactus come from insects and animals. Insect larvae, mice, gophers, chipmunks, ground squirrels, and other animals tend to eat the pads in search of water when there are droughts.

(Opuntia ficus-indica (prickly pear), (n.d.)).

(Chaney, C. (2017, November 21)

Some ranchers will burn the spines off the cactus for their cattle to eat. The fires could get out of control which could kill the cactus completely or affect the environment that the cactus grows in.

Marenick 2019 at Carolina Beach State Park

Conservation

The human influence is rather small compared with other plants in the Carolina Beach State Park. In North Carolina, people tend to leave the prickly pear cactus alone in nature. The plant can be bought at a variety of stores. Visitors to the park can disturb the environment if they are not paying attention to where they are walking. People leave footprints everywhere they go, which not only disturbs the plants but the animals around it.

In the west and in Mexico, humans tend to use them more frequently for medicinal purposes and food. Some examples of how the eastern prickly pear cactus is used include “it is still commonly used topically to treat cuts, insect bites, sunburn, and windburn” (Prickly Pear Cactus, 2019). Prickly pear cactus flowers usually bloom during the months of May through June, and this is normally followed by a fruit that is edible. In addition to the fruit, after the spines are removed, the pads can be cut up and fixed in a variety of ways including baking, roasting, sautéing, frying, boiling, or pickling. (Prickly Pear Cactus, 2019) This means there is a demand for the cactus pads to use for medicine and food, so this could lead to overharvesting.

Friends or Foes?

The prickly pear cactus live in different areas and different communities. The prickly pear cactus can be found in desert to woodland communities. They not a highly competitive plant within their communities. In the Carolina Beach State Park, the eastern prickly pear can be found with longleaf pine trees, yucca, native and wiregrass. They can be found in areas that are mostly sand and considered poor nutrient areas. Because of their ability to grow in these areas of poor nutrition, they are not usually competing with other plants in the area.

Bees collect pollen from the flowers of the cactus. There are some moths that also feed on the pads. In addition to the insects, there are other mammals and reptiles that eat the pads and fruit of the cactus. These can include turtles, deer, rabbits, skunks, coyote, and fox. The animals may be more likely to eat the pads of the cactus when they are in search of water but the spines may prevent them from eating much of the pads. The pads can also “provide protective cover for snakes and other kinds of wildlife”. (Eastern Prickly Pear, Opuntia humifusa, Cactus family (Cactaceae) (n.d.))

Marenick 2019 at Carolina Beach State Park

Web Resources for Audience to Explore

1). https://floridata.com/plant/215 - This website is simple to use, provides facts about the cactus and would be a resource for teachers.

2).https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/plant-of-the-week/opuntia_humifusa.shtml -This website includes facts, pictures, and a map of the places the cactus grow.

3). http://www.scienceforkidsclub.com/cactus-plants.html -This website includes facts about cactus.

4).https://sites.google.com/a/asu.edu/sonoran-desert-explore/3rd-grade--let-s-explore-vegetation -This website explains how the cactus is edible and things that can be made from the cactus.

5). https://www.coolkidfacts.com/cactus-plants/ -This website has different facts about cactus and includes different pictures of different cactus.

Resources

"Prickly Pear Cactus." Gale Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine. . Retrieved June 01, 2019 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/medicine/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/prickly-pear-cactus

Opuntia humifusa. (n.d.). Retrieved June 1, 2019, from https://floridata.com/plant/215

Plant Database. (n.d.). Retrieved June 1, 2019, from https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=ophu

Taylor, D. (n.d.). Plant of the Week. Retrieved June 1, 2019, from https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/plant-of-the-week/opuntia_humifusa.shtml

Osterbrink, S. (2007). Eastern Prickly Pear Cactus Opuntia humifusa. Retrieved June 1, 2019, from http://bioweb.uwlax.edu/bio203/2010/osterbri_sara/index.htm

Cook, W. (2015, July 11). Eastern Prickly-pear (Opuntia humifusa var. humifusa). Retrieved June 1, 2019, from https://www.carolinanature.com/trees/ophu.html

Iannotti, M. (2019, May 11). Growing and Caring for Opuntia compressa. Retrieved June 1, 2019, from https://www.thespruce.com/growing-prickly-pear-1402857

Opuntia ficus-indica (prickly pear). (n.d.). Retrieved June 1, 2019, from https://www.cabi.org/isc/datasheet/37714

Chaney, C. (2017, November 21). Rodents That Eat Prickly Pear Cactus. Retrieved June 1, 2019, from https://homeguides.sfgate.com/rodents-eat-prickly-pear-cactus-60302.html

PRICKLY PEAR CACTUS. (2006, August 28). Retrieved June 1, 2019, from https://www.fossweb.com/delegate/ssi-foss-ucm/Contribution Folders/FOSS/multimedia_ms_1E/PopulationsandEcosystems/organismdatabase/orgpages/1231_0.html

Natural History. (n.d.). Retrieved June 6, 2019, from https://www.biodiversidad.gob.mx/v_ingles/use/nopales/naturalHistory.html

Mussulman, J. (2011, August). Prickly Pear. Retrieved June 6, 2019, from http://www.lewis-clark.org/article/3121

Eastern Prickly Pear, Opuntia humifusa, Cactus family (Cactaceae). (n.d.). Retrieved June 6, 2019, from https://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/prairie/plantx/prickly_pearx.htm

Google Sites

Report abuse