# Eastern Prickly Pear (Opuntia humifusa)

> The one cactus native across the East, a low mat of flat pads with big yellow flowers in early summer and edible fruit, for the driest, sunniest ground.

Family: Cactaceae (cactus family). Also called devil's tongue, low prickly pear, smooth prickly pear, eastern prickly pear cactus, Opuntia compressa, Opuntia cespitosa. Category: Native Shrubs. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/eastern-prickly-pear/

![Eastern prickly pear (Opuntia humifusa) low clump of spiny pads in grass with open yellow flowers and buds](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/eastern-prickly-pear-h1610-800.jpg)
*Photo: Blue Whale Trees*

## Facts

- Type: Shrub
- Mature height: 1 to 2 ft
- USDA hardiness zones: 4 to 9
- Grows wild in: Sandy barrens, rocky ground, dry uplands, the coast, old fields and edges
- Native range: 36 states, north and west to [Montana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MT) and south to [Florida](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=FL) ([Alabama](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AL), [Arkansas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AR), [Colorado](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CO), [Connecticut](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CT), [Delaware](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=DE), [Florida](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=FL), [Georgia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=GA), [Illinois](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IL), [Indiana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IN), [Iowa](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IA), [Kansas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=KS), [Kentucky](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=KY), [Louisiana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=LA), [Maryland](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MD), [Massachusetts](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MA), [Michigan](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MI), [Minnesota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MN), [Mississippi](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MS), [Missouri](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MO), [Montana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MT), [Nebraska](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NE), [New Jersey](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NJ), [New Mexico](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NM), [New York](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NY), [North Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NC), [Ohio](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OH), [Oklahoma](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OK), [Pennsylvania](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=PA), [Rhode Island](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=RI), [South Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=SC), [South Dakota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=SD), [Tennessee](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=TN), [Texas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=TX), [Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VA), [West Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WV) and [Wisconsin](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WI))
- Sun: Full
- Soil moisture: Dry
- Growth rate: Slow
- Flowers: May to July
- Fruit: Fleshy fruit, August to October
- First crop: 2 to 8 years
- Mature spread: 3 ft
- Traits: Showy flowers, Edible, Drought tolerant, Salt tolerant, Wildlife value
- Sold as: Saplings, Seed

Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them.

## Availability

Saplings ship [bare-root](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/planting-bare-root-trees-on-arrival/index.html.md) or [in a pot](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/a-sapling-in-a-pot/index.html.md), in the dormant season, and their [height and age](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/reading-a-nursery-listing/index.html.md) are stated with the price, once available. Live plants ship February to May and October to November. Not priced yet: leave an email on the web page for one email when it is priced, with a code for 10% off the plants in that order, not shipping or tax, or write to captain@bluewhaletrees.com.

## Notes

Eastern prickly pear is the only cactus widespread in the eastern United States, a low, spreading cactus of sand, rock and dunes. USDA PLANTS treats the eastern plants as one variable species, Opuntia humifusa, the broad sense used here, while Kew's checklist splits them into several, among them Opuntia humifusa, Opuntia cespitosa and Opuntia mesacantha. Massachusetts and Rhode Island list it as endangered, Connecticut as a species of special concern and Pennsylvania as rare. Kentucky lists Opuntia humifusa in the narrow sense as threatened, and Ohio lists Opuntia cespitosa as potentially threatened. Set it on a sandy slope, a rock wall or a gravel bed in full sun, where little else will grow.

## Size, growth and what to expect

Eastern prickly pear grows slowly, a few inches a year in our growth estimator. It makes a low mat or clump usually under a foot tall, sometimes 20 inches, spreading 1 to 3 feet as its pads root where they touch the ground. The flat pads, 2 to 10 inches across, carry tufts of tiny barbed bristles and few spines or none. In fall they shrivel and lie down, then plump up in spring. Seedlings can flower in their second year in the South but take six to eight years in Ontario.

Yellow flowers 2 to 3 inches across, often with a red center, open from May into July, and bumblebees carry most of their pollen. The fruits ripen from green to red or purple in late summer and fall, 1 to 2 inches long, and may hang on through winter. Birds, rabbits, deer and box turtles eat the fruit.

It grows wild from Massachusetts and Ontario west to Montana, and south to Florida, Texas and New Mexico. Its home is dry, open ground, from dunes and sand prairies to rocky glades, open woods and old fields.

## How to grow Eastern Prickly Pear

Eastern prickly pear needs full sun. Give it dry, sandy, gravelly or rocky soil that drains fast. Clay will do if water never stands on it, but ground that stays wet rots it. It tolerates salt and drought. Set plants 3 feet apart and keep them 2 feet from a wall. At its size it can go within 15 feet of overhead wires.

Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Wear thick gloves to handle it, since its tiny barbed bristles lodge in the skin. Plant it during the growing season, at the depth it grew, and firm the soil around it. Sow fresh seed outdoors as soon as it is collected, and seedlings come up the next spring. Seed that has dried needs its coat nicked before sowing.

Water a new plant or pad about once a week while it roots, and let the soil dry out fully between waterings. After that, water it only in a long drought, since too much water rots it. Keep taller plants from overgrowing it, since shade cuts its vigor and flowering. Deer and rabbits seldom browse the pads.

Each flower carries both male and female parts, but it needs pollen from another plant to set good seed, and pads that root are the same plant. Plant two or more seedlings from different parents for seed. It has no serious pests, though it rots in wet soil, and the invasive cactus moth has attacked it in Florida. The fruit and young pads are eaten, but only after the bristles are burned or rubbed off, since they cause painful skin and eye irritation.

## Sources

- [NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox: Opuntia humifusa](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/opuntia-humifusa/)
- [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Opuntia humifusa](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=OPHU)
- [Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder: Opuntia humifusa](https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=278416&isprofile=0)
- [Flora of North America, vol. 4: Opuntia humifusa, Pinkava](http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=242415184)
- [USDA Forest Service, Fire Effects Information System: Opuntia humifusa, Taylor 2005](https://www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/plants/cactus/opuhum/all.html)
- [Native Plant Network: propagation protocol for Opuntia littoralis, coast prickly pear, San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research 2018](https://npn.rngr.net/renderNPNProtocolDetails?selectedProtocolIds=cactaceae-opuntia)
- [COSEWIC: Assessment and Status Report on the Eastern Prickly Pear Cactus Opuntia humifusa in Canada, 2010](https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/species-risk-public-registry/cosewic-assessments-status-reports/eastern-prickly-pear-cactus-2010.html)
- [Missouri Department of Conservation Field Guide: Eastern Prickly Pear](https://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/eastern-prickly-pear)
- [Go Botany, Native Plant Trust: Opuntia humifusa](https://gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/opuntia/humifusa/)
- [Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Opuntia humifusa](https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:136679-1)
- [USDA PLANTS: Opuntia humifusa (Raf.) Raf., OPHU](https://plants.usda.gov/plant-profile/OPHU)
- [NatureServe Explorer: Opuntia humifusa](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.153608/Opuntia_humifusa)
- [Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife: List of Endangered, Threatened and Special Concern Species](https://www.mass.gov/doc/printable-list-of-endangered-threatened-and-special-concern-species/download)
- [Rhode Island Natural History Survey: Rhode Island Rare Plants 2016](https://rinhs.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/RI-Rare-Plants-2016-simple-list.pdf)
- [Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection: Endangered, Threatened and Special Concern Plants](https://portal.ct.gov/deep/endangered-species/endangered-species-listings/endangered-threatened--special-concern-plants)
- [Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program: Species and Natural Features List](https://www.naturalheritage.state.pa.us/Species.aspx)
- [Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves: Kentucky Rare Plant List, 2022](https://eec.ky.gov/Nature-Preserves/biodiversity/Documents/2022%20Kentucky%20Rare%20Plant%20List%202.pdf)
- [Ohio Department of Natural Resources: Rare Native Ohio Plants, 2024-25 Status List](https://dam.assets.ohio.gov/image/upload/odnr/natural-areas/2024-25_Ohio_Rare_Native_Plants_Status_List_FINAL_draft.pdf)

## Read before planting

- [Ten planting mistakes that quietly kill trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/ten-planting-mistakes/index.html.md)
- [Transplanting young trees: timing, water and protection](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/transplanting-young-trees/index.html.md)
- [Protecting young trees from voles, rabbits, deer and squirrels](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protecting-trees-from-animals/index.html.md)
- [Native trees and shrubs for dry, sandy soil: the plants of barrens and dunes, and how to grow them](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-trees-and-shrubs-for-dry-sandy-soil/index.html.md)
- [Low native shrubs and groundcovers for sun, shade, sand and bog](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/low-native-shrubs-and-groundcovers/index.html.md)
- [The habitat around a tree is part of the tree](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/habitat-around-a-tree/index.html.md)

## Related

- Plants that share its sun and soil: [Common Juniper](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/common-juniper/index.html.md), [Prairie Willow](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/prairie-willow/index.html.md), [New Jersey Tea](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/new-jersey-tea/index.html.md) and [Hillside Blueberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/hillside-blueberry/index.html.md)
- Same size, similar character: [Cinnamon Clethra](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/cinnamon-clethra/index.html.md), [Possumhaw Viburnum](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/possumhaw-viburnum/index.html.md), [Red Chokeberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/red-chokeberry/index.html.md) and [Crossvine](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/crossvine/index.html.md)
- [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Eastern Prickly Pear, add ?species=eastern-prickly-pear with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address; for example, the verdict for zone 4, part sun and average soil as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md?species=eastern-prickly-pear&zone=4&sun=part&moisture=average
- [Companion species for Eastern Prickly Pear](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=eastern-prickly-pear): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard.
- [Tree growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate for Eastern Prickly Pear as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md?species=eastern-prickly-pear (add height=, years= and site= poor, average or good)
- [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Eastern Prickly Pear is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan for it as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md?species=eastern-prickly-pear (add state= and zone= for your own frost dates, method=fridge for the refrigerator route)
- [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Eastern Prickly Pear needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the verdict for 2 of them as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md?plants=eastern-prickly-pear:2
- [Planting-window tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md): when to plant Eastern Prickly Pear where you live, as a fall and a spring window from the local frost dates; the windows as Markdown are at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md?species=eastern-prickly-pear&state=MO&zone=6 with your own state and zone in place of those
- [Planting-distance tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md): how far Eastern Prickly Pear goes from a house, a septic field, a walk, wires, a property line and the next tree; the distances as Markdown are at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md?species=eastern-prickly-pear&near=house,septic,pavement,wires,boundary,tree
- [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Eastern Prickly Pear flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species; its own row and the gaps of a planting with it as Markdown at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md?plants=eastern-prickly-pear