Opuntia polyacantha Haw.
Cliff Prickly Pear, Cold-hardy Prickly Pear Cactus, Cold-hardy Pricklypear, Grizzly Bear Prickly Pear
Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.
Summary
Opuntia polyacantha is a common species of cactus known by the common names plains pricklypear, starvation pricklypear, hairspine cactus, and panhandle pricklypear.
Text from Wikipedia, “Opuntia polyacantha”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.
About the genus · Opuntia
Opuntia, commonly called the prickly pear cactus, is a genus of flowering plants in the cactus family Cactaceae, many known for their flavorful fruit and showy flowers. Between 8,000 and 9,000 years ago, the Opuntia prickly pear cactus was domesticated in central Mexico. Cacti are native to the Americas, and are well adapted to arid climates; however, they are still vulnerable to alterations in precipitation and temperature driven by climate change. More on Wikipedia ›
The opening of Wikipedia, “Opuntia”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.
At a glance
Also known as Cactus ferox Nutt.; Opuntia barbata K.Brandegee; Opuntia barbata K.Brandegee ex J.A.Purpus; Opuntia barbata var. gracillima K.Brandegee; Opuntia barbata var. gracillima K.Brandegee ex J.A.Purpus and 44 more.
Cultivation
Grouped as a cactus or succulent by the genus Opuntia, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). The table holds no figure for this group, which spans too much for one minimum; the cold floor is the habitat's alone, and no prose comes from the table.
Its year Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (March to October in the northern hemisphere).
This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.
The rain rule reads no season: 70% of the year's rain (230 mm of 300 mm) takes 8 months, March to October. Mean temperature moves 25.9 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: September to April.
Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.
Rain Habitat rain 300 mm a year, wettest May at 34 mm, driest January at 17 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
300 mm a year at the habitat, 230 mm of it March to October. Wettest month May at 34 mm, driest January at 17 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 212 mm to 475 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).
CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.
Light Open sky over the habitat: 16 to 51 mol/m²/day.
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
Open sky over the habitat: 16 to 51 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 8, the highest 90th-percentile month 54).
CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.
Warmth and air Cold floor -14.4 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -14.4 °C, the absolute minimum -23.4 °C, about 141 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 35.9 °C. Monthly means: coldest night -8.2 °C in January (across the envelope cells -13.4 °C to -1.5 °C), warmest day 29.8 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -14.4 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).
NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.
Relative humidity at the habitat: 44 to 55% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.
CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.
The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.
Climate across the habitat
Figures by month
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day °C | 3 / -3–10 | 5 / -0–12 | 10 / 5–16 | 15 / 10–21 | 21 / 16–27 | 26 / 22–32 | 30 / 25–35 | 29 / 24–33 | 24 / 20–29 | 17 / 12–22 | 9 / 3–15 | 3 / -3–9 |
| Night °C | -8 / -13–-2 | -7 / -11–0 | -3 / -7–3 | 1 / -3–7 | 7 / 2–12 | 12 / 7–18 | 16 / 11–21 | 15 / 11–20 | 10 / 6–16 | 4 / 1–10 | -3 / -6–4 | -8 / -12–-1 |
| Rain mm | 17 / 10–36 | 17 / 9–38 | 25 / 16–42 | 25 / 13–52 | 34 / 9–66 | 27 / 6–73 | 31 / 13–63 | 32 / 15–61 | 29 / 14–41 | 27 / 16–39 | 18 / 12–30 | 18 / 10–35 |
| DLI | 18 / 10–22 | 25 / 17–28 | 34 / 26–37 | 42 / 35–46 | 47 / 40–51 | 51 / 43–54 | 49 / 45–52 | 44 / 38–47 | 37 / 28–40 | 27 / 18–31 | 19 / 11–23 | 16 / 8–19 |
| RH % | 55 / 49–63 | 54 / 49–61 | 52 / 46–57 | 50 / 41–54 | 48 / 38–53 | 45 / 34–54 | 44 / 37–52 | 46 / 39–54 | 47 / 40–53 | 49 / 43–54 | 52 / 46–58 | 54 / 49–62 |
Each figure is the median across the 1129 grid cells holding the 1720 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1006:1496 (39.675, -105.175). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -23.4 °C, 1st-percentile night -14.4 °C, 99th-percentile day 35.9 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 1129 distinct grid cells holding the 1720 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1006:1496 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 39.50_-105.000, lapse-corrected -267 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1828 m (cell mean).
Natural habitat
Photographs
Photographs: no rights reserved · CC0 (4); (c) Alex Baxter, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Laurel Meredyk, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) criminy, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).
Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.
Papers naming this species
Works whose title or abstract names Opuntia polyacantha, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.
Related
Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.
Cleomella serrulata Rocky Mountain Beeweed
Sclerocactus pubispinus Great Basin eagle-claw cactus
Sclerocactus spinosior Desert Valley Fish-hook Cactus
Asclepias speciosa Greek milkweed
Yucca harrimaniae Dwarf Yucca
Sclerocactus glaucus Colorado hookless cactusOther Opuntia 14 in the reference
Opuntia basilaris Bakersfield beaver-tail cactus
Opuntia cochenillifera cochineal cactus
Opuntia engelmannii Cactus-apple
Opuntia ficus-indica Barbary fig
Opuntia gosseliniana Violet Prickly-pear
Opuntia humifusa Creeping prickly-pear
Opuntia leucotricha Aaron's-beard prickly-pear
Opuntia microdasys Angel's-wings
Opuntia monacantha Common Pricklypear
Opuntia orbiculata Western Pricklypear
Opuntia robusta Cactaceae
Opuntia stricta Araluen pear, Common pest pear, Prickly pear, Erect Pricklypear all 15 ›History & registers
Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)wcvp.distribution answeredgbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zamclimate answeredwikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skippedinat.taxon not askedinat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skippedinat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)gbif.media answeredopenalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skippedEvery upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 44 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.