Time for a dose of flora on Greensboro Daily Photo......
The prickly pear cactus, opuntia humifusa, is a species native to North Carolina and plentiful around Greensboro. It is the most common of our State's three native cacti and is the most ornamental. Its bright yellow flowers transform into beautiful, red fruits (see above). Cactus fruit can be eaten once the spines are removed (more here). Like our native muscadine grapes and persimmon, seeds can be bothersome on this plant; yes, you have to work hard to enjoy the fruit! With the move to "eat local", we're betting the above delicacy will be showing up on menus and become available in more than Greensboro's ethnic grocery stores.
We at GDP have such fond memories of riding through the North Carolina countryside, driving to the beach, and seeing discarded tires filled with sand and cacti-- especially popular in the Sandhills. Prickly pear cacti plants thrive in full sun.
While we've seen the above plant near Greensboro College, we cheated a little bit and captured this photo at the North Carolina zoo in the desert exhibit. The NC Zoo in Asheboro is a perfect place to spend the day taking photos.
They taste great too. Just don't eat the prickly part. I like them chopped up and mixed in scrambled eggs from my free range hens.
Posted by: Billy Jones | Thursday, February 23, 2012 at 09:42 AM
I'm taken aback that N. Carolina or any eastern states has native cacti. Shows my ignorance. Thanks for the post.
Posted by: Oakland Daily Photo | Thursday, February 23, 2012 at 08:41 PM