Hello dear readers, it is always a pleasure to be back with you sharing another of Mother Nature's gifts. This time I bring you images of a plant that I found while accompanying my dad on his daily walk. It is a very common plant in the area where I live, but to be honest I had never seen it blooming, so obviously it immediately caught my attention.

It is a plant belonging to the Cactaceae family, better known as the cactus or cactus family. I don't know if it happens the same to you, but when you mention this type of plant, sharp and dangerous thorns immediately come to mind, but from what I have read, not all of them have thorns as such. Some species only have something like hairs and others, as you can see in the images, I share with you, have small protuberances and even tiny leaves.

In addition, another thing we always relate to the Cactaceae is desert or arid ecosystems, but that is not entirely correct either. Cacti develop in different types of habitats, although some species are adapted to environments where drought predominates, some others are typical of humid habitats. What is common to almost all species is their origin, since they are native to the American continent.

Well, let's go on, because I haven't even told you the name of this curious plant, which I show you today in my images and which is the central theme of this publication. At least, you must already know that it is a cactus, but what is it called? Let's start with its botanical name, which is Opuntia cochenillifera. As its name indicates, it belongs to the Opuntia genus and before continuing, I will stop to tell you a little about this genus, which includes about 300 species. All these species are native to the Americas and can be found growing wild from the southern part of Canada to the northern part of Patagonia.

Ok. I already mentioned the scientific name of this peculiar plant, but perhaps you will know it by some of its common or popular names. Some of these names are: Lengua de Vaca, Nopalillo, Nopalitos, Nopal Costeño, Nopal Chamacuero, Nopal de San Gabriel, Nopal de Cochinilla, Nopal de Huerto, Nopal Lengüita, Nopal de Tuna Pequeña, Nopal Nocheztli, Nopal Verdura, Tuna de Cochinilla, Tuna España and Tunita.

Now let's talk a little about the appearance of this xerophytic plant, as you can see in the pictures, its structure is not similar to that of a common tree. That is to say, conformed by a trunk, from where branches with their respective foliage come out. In the case of this plant, it seems that they took many leaves and joined them together to form a tree, a crazy thing, right?

As you can see in the previous image, the plants at the beginning of their development look like a small leaf, that first leaf will grow and will change its flattened shape, becoming cylindrical, since it will become the trunk, from where the ramifications are detached. The branches of Opuntia cochenillifera are made up of numerous segments, also called stalks, which are characterized by being fleshy, have an oval and flattened shape; they can measure up to 20 cm each. Finally, the total height that an adult tree can reach is usually around 3 or 4 meters.

Regarding the flowers in my opinion are very beautiful, however, I can not deny that they are quite peculiar, the whole structure where the inflorescence develops is oval shaped. It is mostly green in color, but at the end stand out what look like claws of a color, reddish and yellow. These claws, which at first are thick, gradually become thinner and become completely red, inside them protect their long stamens of deep pink color. When the flower dries, it falls off and the green part remains, which is the fruit, which takes on a red color when ripe.

Finally, I can not say goodbye without telling you something I discovered in my research, it turns out that, although it is very common that at a popular level people speak indistinctly of cacti and succulent plants, this is a mistake. It is true, some species of succulents are morphologically speaking, very similar to cacti, in reality they do not have any kinship, they belong to different botanical families.

Well, dear readers and nature lovers, it only remains for me to say goodbye, hoping that the images and information I share with you about this beautiful plant have been to your liking. Very specially, I hope @bucipuci, @adalger and all the team of @dna and @amazingnature like it, since, it is my entry for this week's contest, in which, if you want to participate, you can access by clicking on the following link Amazing Nature Contest: FREE TOPIC - #3/4/23. Best wishes for well being and health to all, God Bless. See you next time.

Content and photographs of my intellectual property

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