General: Beavertail Pricklypear (Opuntia basilaris) is cactus with pad-type stem segments that tends to grow in clumps close to the ground. Large spines (central and radial spines) are absent, but the pads and fruits are well-defended by tiny glochids (short, hair-like spines) that are hard to see on some varieties and even harder to remove from your hands.

Beavertail Pricklypear often is a common component of vegetation communities on well-drained sandy, gravelly, and rocky soils on desert flats, upper bajadas, and moderate slopes into the lower mountains in the Lower Sonoran (Creosote-Bursage Flats) and Upper Sonoran (Mojave Desert Scrub and Pinyon-Juniper Woodland) life zones.

Family: Cactus (Cactaceae).

Other Names: Beavertail cactus.

Plant Form: Low-growing, clumped shrub with pancake-like stem segments.

Height: To about 16 inches.

Trunk: None.

Stems: Divided into segments (pads); each pad broad and thin (pancake shaped).

Stem Surface: Pads generally smooth, adorned with glochids at each ariole.

Spines: Central: none. Radial: none. Glochids: Present.

Flowers: Blooms during early summer. Inflorescence: solitary flowers. Flowers: petals numerous, large, pink-magenta; stamens numerous, yellow.

Fruit: 3/4 to 1-1/2 inches long, green; becoming dry and tan; well defended by glochids on about 25 to 75 areoles per fruit.

Seeds: Dark brown, round, many.

Habitat: Dry, well-drained sandy, gravelly, and rocky soils on upper bajadas and moderate slopes in the lower mountains.

Distribution: California deserts to Utah, and south through Arizona and into Mexico.

Elevation: Near sea level to over 7,000 feet.

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