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| Animals | Plants | Environment | |||||||
Prickly Pear Cactus
Scientific name: Opuntia
There are several types of prickly pear cactus in the Galápagos. These cacti have flat pads with spines. Some islands have varieties that may grow as tall as 12 meters high and have trunks like trees. Other islands have varieties that grow in bushy short clumps. The prickly pear cactus on Daphne Major are usually 1 to 3 meters tall.
The prickly pear cactus produces green fruits and has yellow flowers 5 to 7 cm across. The cactus finches eat the seeds and nectar from the flowers and eat the fruit and seeds. The ground finches feed on the fruit and seeds of the cactus.
Prickly pear cactus on North Seymour island in the Galápagos. (Photo, Alexis Fisher)
Flowers and fruit on a prickly pear cactus, San Cristobal, Galápagos. (Photo, Kath B., Flickr Creative Commons.)
Data Collected
Properties of Seeds
| Seed Length | 3.0 mm |
|---|---|
| Seed Volume | 3.6 mm |
| Seed Rigidity | Medium |
