Beavertail Cactus
Opuntia basilaris
The Beavertail Cactus is native to California and Arizona, and into Northern Mexico and Southern Utah a bit too. The local populations are varied, and indeed the plants that are descendent from the California populations from the Mojave are not particularly hardy in Berkeley. The Mojave is a very dry desert. So after giving up on a number of plants years ago, we finally have some sourced from Arizona stock, and they are doing better, thank you very much.
These are a shrubby prickly pear, low growing – less than 2 ft. tall generally. The blue-green pads can often turn a bit purplish in the winter. And just so you know, these are generally spineless. Though they do have glochids, which are the tiny little hooked spines, so there.
