Species · genus Opuntia · Cactaceae
Sour Prickle
Opuntia dillenii (Ker Gawl.) Haw.
Also known as: Pipestem Prickly Pear · Red Prickle · Dillen's Prickly Pear · Erect Prickly Pear · Flat Hand Dildo
Cultivars of O. dillenii
The named forms growers keep — each with its own page, each honest about how much we know.
No named cultivars catalogued under O. dillenii yet. When growers document a stable, named form, it earns its own page here.
Guide
The species-level account. Cultivar pages build on this and say where they differ.
A Widely Traveled Prickly Pear
Opuntia dillenii is a name long used for a succulent, paddle-stemmed cactus that botanists now treat as a synonym of Opuntia tuna. It is a shrubby succulent in the cactus family, one of the many prickly pears grouped under this genus.
Source: Kew
From Mexico and Jamaica Outward
The plant's accepted name, Opuntia tuna, traces its native range to Jamaica and several regions of Mexico, where it grows as a succulent shrub in seasonally dry tropical settings. From there it has been introduced very widely, taking hold in places as far apart as the Canary Islands, Florida, Spain, India, Vietnam, and Queensland. Its taxonomic history is tangled, having been published and re-described under names such as Cactus dillenii, Opuntia dillenii, and Opuntia stricta var. dillenii before settling as a synonym of Opuntia tuna.
Source: Kew
A Succulent Shrub Habit
This is a succulent shrub by growth habit, the form typical of the paddle cacti in Opuntia. Its long synonymy, gathering names like Cactus horridus and Opuntia melanosperma along the way, reflects how often it has been collected and redescribed across its wide range.
Source: Kew
Uses Beyond the Pot
Kew notes that this species has been put to use as animal food and as a medicine, alongside environmental and social uses and use as a food plant itself. These practical roles have likely followed it as it spread from its native Mexico and Jamaica into cultivation and naturalization elsewhere.
Source: Kew
Care recipe
The species record — the baseline every cultivar inherits unless it says otherwise.
Care notes are early — not yet verified
- Light
- ai:claude-opus-4-8
- Water
- ai:claude-opus-4-8 (range 14-30d)
- Humidity
- ai:claude-opus-4-8
- Soil
- ai:claude-fable-5
- Care
- ai:claude-fable-5
Direct sun
≈ every 30 days
Low — average room
8–32 °C
Gritty, fast-draining cactus mix with added coarse sand
Root a callused pad in dry, gritty mix
Dilute low-nitrogen cactus feed once or twice in the growing season
Moderate
Rarely flowers indoors
Not yet documented
This is where toxicity lives — every cultivar of this species inherits it and none can override it.
Reference images
Every image credited. Licenses link to their deeds.
PrimarySources: ai:claude-opus-4-8 · ai:claude-opus-4-8 (range 14-30d) · ai:claude-fable-5
Kept true by its growers
Every fact here carries its source. Grow Sour Prickle yourself? What you’ve observed — how it drinks, how it holds its color, a name that’s off — and a clear photo of your plant are exactly what keep this page honest. Contributions are reviewed before anything changes.
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