Prickly Pear Cactus

The Golden Prickly Pear Cactus, Opuntia Aurea, is common in southern Utah and can be seen in many places. But the picture below was taken in my front yard. The plants are similar to the more widespread Opuntia Basilaris; they are largely spineless, with just a few short (less than half an inch), white spines growing along the edges of the pads (one per areole), and bear brilliant pink or yellow flowers, up to 3 inches across, which appear between May and June; these are followed by spineless brownish-grey fruits. Pads are greyish green in color and relatively small, no larger than 6 inches in diameter. The plant is found in a small area in the middle of the Colorado River drainage, in Mohave and Coconino counties of northwest Arizona, and Washington and Kane counties in south Utah.

This cactus plant was transplanted from a location in southern Utah which has since been forgotten but the flowers bloom every year in this pot beside my front door. At one time, we found yellow flowers growing on one of these cacti in the desert but we were unable to bring it home. Photo below:

This is a closeup of one of the flowers, which bloom for several days. I also have a time lapse video of one of these flowers opening in the pot above, on the frame below:

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