Species · genus Opuntia · Cactaceae

Purple Prickly Pear

Opuntia macrocentra Engelm.

Also known as: Black-spine Prickly Pear · Blunt-spine Prickly-pear · Long-spine Prickly-pear · Martin's Blunt-spine Prickly-pear · Reddish-purple Prickly-pear

Growth habit

tree

Native range

Arizona, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, New Mexico, Texas

Reference · O. macrocentra

Cultivars of O. macrocentra

The named forms growers keep — each with its own page, each honest about how much we know.

No named cultivars catalogued under O. macrocentra 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.

Opuntia macrocentra is a desert prickly pear from the arid southwestern US and northern Mexico, built to store water in its flattened pads and endure long dry spells. Give it the brightest, most direct light you have and a gritty, fast-draining mineral mix. Water deeply only once the soil has been bone dry through the whole pot for a week or more, and back off sharply in winter when the plant is dormant.

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 21-45d)
Humidity: ai:claude-opus-4-8
Soil: ai:claude-fable-5
Care: ai:claude-fable-5

Light

Direct sun

Water

≈ every 45 days

Humidity

Low — average room

Temperature

7–32 °C

Soil mix

Very gritty, fast-draining cactus mix with pumice

Propagation

Root a callused pad segment in dry mix

Fertilizing

Dilute low-nitrogen cactus feed once or twice in spring and summer

Growth rate

Slow

Flowering

Rarely flowers indoors

ToxicityAuthoritative · species

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.

No reference gallery yet

A few clear photos — habit, a mature leaf, a flower if it blooms — would give this page its eyes.

Add images

Sources: ai:claude-opus-4-8 · ai:claude-opus-4-8 (range 21-45d) · ai:claude-fable-5

Kept true by its growers

Every fact here carries its source. Grow Purple Prickly Pear yourself? What you’ve observed — how it drinks, how it holds its color, a name that’s off — is exactly what keeps this page honest. Contributions are reviewed before anything changes.