Opuntia stricta
Opuntia stricta
—
Not native
Not native to Alabama. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 24%
At a glance
Not yet recorded · Height · Spread · Light · Soil · Life cycle · Leaves · Bloom
This plant is missing most of its facts, so Quercus is looking them up in old botany books.
Recorded in 2 Alabama counties.
Ecological relationships
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
—BeesSoutheastern regional records
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
Growing and identification
Plant details
- Family
- CACTACEAE
What its natural habitat tells you
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Conservation status
| Alabama rank | SNR |
|---|---|
| Global rank | G4? |
| AL status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Native alternatives
Find natives for your gardenSources
- Alabama Plant Atlas
- USDA PLANTS
- Vascular Plants of North Carolina (NC Natural Heritage Program)
- 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