Southern Prickly Pear; Florida Prickly Pear; Southern Pricklypear; Florida Pricklypear
Opuntia austrina
Found in florida scrub; sandhills; pine flatwoods; Coastal dunes and beaches. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you
Native to Florida. How scores work Is it native here?
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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 35 Florida counties.
Habitats
Florida scrub; sandhills; pine flatwoods; Coastal dunes and beaches.
Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there. All habitats
Who uses this plant?
12CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including FL
Genus host records with ranges including FL · Opuntia
- Dicymolomia julianalisJulia's Dicymolomia
- Euxoa auxiliarisArmy Cut-Worm, Army Cutworm
- Homoeosoma electellaSunflower Moth
- Laetilia coccidivoraScale-Feeding Snout
- Marmara opuntiellaX
- Melitara prodenialisEastern Cactus-Boring Moth, Eastern Blue Cactus Borer
- Erelieva quantulella
- Eurythmia hospitella
- Loxomorpha cambogialis
- Loxomorpha flavidissimalis
Show all 12
- Menesta tortriciformella
- Ozamia lucidalis
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
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Conservation status
| Florida rank | SNR |
|---|---|
| Global rank | Not available |
| FL 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
- Atlas of Florida Plants
- NatureServe Explorer
- 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