Eastern Prickly Pear
Opuntia cespitosa
Found in limestone and chalk outcrops, dolomite outcrops, glades, sandy or blackland prairies, upland hardwood or mixed hardwood-pine forests in dry, clay soils. Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), South Central edition What its natural habitat tells you
Native to Alabama. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 88%
- Height
- Up to about 1.5 feet
- Light
- Full sun
- Soil moisture
- Dry to moist
No photograph yet. Looking for an old drawing…
At a glance
- Life cycle
- Perennial
- Leaves
- Evergreen
- Bloom
- May to June
Not yet recorded · Spread
Recorded in 12 Alabama counties.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Glades, barrens and outcrops on limestone
Who uses this plant?
6CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including AL
Genus host records with ranges including AL · Opuntia
- Dicymolomia julianalisJulia's Dicymolomia
- Homoeosoma electellaSunflower Moth
- Laetilia coccidivoraScale-Feeding Snout
- Melitara prodenialisEastern Cactus-Boring Moth, Eastern Blue Cactus Borer
- Eurythmia hospitella
- Menesta tortriciformella
25BeesSoutheastern regional records
Southeastern regional records · Opuntia
Individual names are not available yet.
Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
5Specialist beesPollen specialists
Pollen specialists · Opuntia
- Diadasia australis
- Diadasia piercei
- Lithurgopsis gibbosa
- Lithurgopsis littoralis
- Macrotera texana
4BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim
Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Opuntia
- Cardinalis cardinalisNorthern Cardinal
- Cyrtonyx montezumaeMontezuma Quail
- Leptotila verreauxiWhite-tipped Dove
- Meleagris gallopavoWild Turkey
Direct food only: birds recorded eating this genus across North America. Caterpillars on host plants also feed nesting birds. NC Native Plant Society: butterfly gardening
No records yet · Ants · Beetles · Flies · Adult butterflies / moths · Other wasps · Other insects
Plant details
- Family
- Cactaceae
- Flower color
- Red or yellow
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Growing sources and scope
- Bloom · “May to June” · Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition · Carolinas and Georgia
- Flower color · “Red or yellow” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Height · “Up to about 1.5 feet” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Leaves · “Evergreen” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Life cycle · “Perennial” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Light · “Full sun (documented habitat)” · Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition · Carolinas and Georgia
- Soil · “Dry; Moist (documented habitat)” · Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition · Carolinas and Georgia
Conservation status
| Alabama rank | Not available |
|---|---|
| Global rank | Not available |
| AL status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Will it fit your yard?
Check this plant against your county, sun and soil moisture. Conditions are checked in your browser.
Sources
- Alabama Plant Atlas
- Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), South Central edition
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications