The desert is coming alive with colors. This is one of the first blooms I found on a Prickly Pear Cactus. Prickly pear cacti typically grow with flat, rounded platyclades that are armed with two kinds of spines; large, smooth, fixed spines and small, hairlike spines called glochids, that easily penetrate skin and detach from the plant. Many types of prickly pears grow into dense, tangled structures. Like all true cactus species, prickly pears are native only to the Western hemisphere; however, they have been introduced to other parts of the globe.
