Woollyjoint Pricklypear
Opuntia tomentosa Salm-Dyck
- light
- —
- water
- —
- tall
- 4.5 m
- wide
- —
Cactaceae
Also called Velvety Tree Pear, Velvet Opuntia, Velvet Tree-Pear, Velvety tree pear, Woollyjoint pricklypear
Formerly Cactus hernandezii, Cactus tomentosus, Nopal silvestre, Opuntia hernandezii, and 8 more
When it flowers
Flowers March to July 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 shrub or treeKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Climate
- Desert or dry shrublandKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Wild in
- Mexico to HondurasKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Height
- 3.0 m to 6.0 mRead from LLIFLE, one source
Not known yet: light, spread, water, flowers, coldest it survives, heat, hottest it survives.
Grow it with
Suggested by a rule, not by a gardener: same climate (kew), flowering when this plant does not (inaturalist), and a different shape.
Crown of thornsFlowers August to February, when this does not
Giant milkweedFlowers August to February, when this does not
Aloe veraFlowers August to February, when this does not
Rush milkweedFlowers August and October to February, when this does not
Mealycup sageFlowers August to November, when this does not
In other languages (9)
- Spanish
- Nopal chamacuelo, Lengua de vaca, Nopal de San Gabriel
- Japanese
- カヅノウチワ（鹿角団扇）, ビロードウチワ（ビロード団扇）, クモノスウチワ（蜘蛛の巣団扇）
- Russian
- Опунция войлочная
- Finnish
- samettiopuntia
- French
- Oponce tomenteux
- German
- Filziger Feigenkaktus
- Chinese (China)
- 绒毛团扇
- Slovak
- opuncia plstnatá
- Chinese
- 绒毛团扇
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
- LLIFLE, read 2026-10-26, fact, cited
- Wikimedia Commons, read 2026-10-25, CC BY-SA 2.5
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY-SA
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- 3D model: Opuntia tomentosa (built for Vanagrha) by Vanagrha, own
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.