Cochineal Nopal Cactus
Opuntia cochenillifera (L.) Mill.
- light
- —
- water
- —
- tall
- —
- wide
- —
Cactaceae
Also called Cochineal nopal cactus
Formerly Cactus cochenillifer, Cactus subinermis, Nopalea brittonii, Nopalea cochenillifera, and 1 more
When it flowers
Flowers all year in the tropics.
Read from iNaturalist photographs of it in flower. A month counts at 50% of the best month's flowering share (smoothed over three months) and 10% of its flowering count, from at least 100 flowering observations in the band.
If a child, a pet or anyone may have eaten a plant, contact a doctor or vet straight away, or call the National Poisons Information Centre (AIIMS, New Delhi) on 1800 116 117, free and open 24 hours.
Something wrong with it?About it
- Grows as
- Succulent treeKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Climate
- Desert or dry shrublandKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Wild in
- MexicoKew's checklist, not yet checked
Not known yet: light, height, spread, water, flowers, coldest it survives, heat, hottest it survives.
In other languages (12)
- root
- bi-yaa, nopale, nuc'pal setic
- Spanish
- Nopal de la cochinilla, Alquitira
- myn
- pak'an
- Chinese
- 胭脂仙人掌, 胭脂掌
- Portuguese
- cacto-palma, palma-doce, Palma-miúda
- Chinese (China)
- 胭脂掌
- Japanese
- コチニールウチワ
- Thai
- เสมา
- Russian
- Опунция кошениленосная
- Polish
- opuncja koszenilowa
- Finnish
- väriopuntia
- French
- Figuier de Barbarie
Where this comes from
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC0-1.0 (observation counts)
- Wikidata, read 2026-10-25, CC0-1.0
- Kew's checklist, read 2026-10-24, CC-BY-4.0
- Wikimedia Commons, read 2026-10-25, CC BY-SA 4.0
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
A fact “checked by a majority of its sources” was settled by a vote of the pages it was read from, not by a person reading it; one marked “one source” rests on that page alone. Anything else not marked checked has not been checked yet. Where nothing is known, the page says so rather than guess.