Various types of spineless cacti are common in Florida gardens, but spineless AND variegated? Not so much! The second I laid eyes on this cactus at our Master Gardener Plant Auction, I knew I’d be taking it home! 🙂
Although auctioned as a “NO ID Opuntia,” the American Journal of Botany describes my new plant as one of 8 cacti recently moved from the Opuntia to Nopalea genus. Chalk it up to key differences in the shape of the flower tubes, and the impact this has on pollination: nopaleas are visited by hummingbirds, opuntias by insects. Who knew ❓
N. cochenillifera is drought-tolerant, yet, oddly, thrives in our rainy summers. At maturity this cactus assumes a tree like shape with branches of jointed pads reaching 12′ high. Just this morning, I noticed the first new pad forming since i brought the plant home:
Nopalea cochenillifera is loaded with potassium, magnesium, calcium, manganese, copper, zinc and iron, as well as thiamine, lutein, niacin, riboflavin and beta-carotene. Farmers who raise goats and livestock value it as easy-to-grow fodder but humans can also benefit from including nopaleas in their daily diet. Click and scroll for interesting recipes.
As an aside, we’ve been having very dismal, gray, un-Florida-like weather since Thanksgiving. The cheery garden colors of summer and falll have been replaced by interesting textures and jewel tones:
Each winter since moving here, I anxiously await the tiny Soldier’s Orchid, and every year they arrive earlier, in greater quantity! Here’s the first of 2013, randomly sprouting in a container:
That’s about it from not-so-sunny Vero Beach! I can’t really complain though, it’s still warmer than normal and Christmas is in the air!
Until next time…..
Related articles
- Try Nopalea Today! (futuretwit.com)
- Spineless Opuntia (nopales) to combat desertification (Esteban CORRAL / Willem Van Cotthem) (desertification.wordpress.com)
- Go for a show of winter color with broad-leaved evergreens (seattletimes.com)
- Ecophysiological and Anatomical Mechanisms behind the Nurse Effect: Which Are More Important? A Multivariate Approach for Cactus Seedlings (plosone.org)
11 thoughts on “Nopalea cochenillifera f. variegata”
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small house/BIG GARDEN 
I have never seen a variegated cacti… that is marvelous… specially if it is spineless…
After I won the auction, 4 people approached me for pads and I couldn’t say no. This is why I’m so excited to see the new pad forming–on auction day, this was actually a bigger plant!
I will take Vero Beach with no snow and no ICE!
That cactus is so pretty and the colors in your garden are so pretty.
Thank you! Will you be getting to FL. this winter at all?
Hoping to!
The patterns on the nopalea are amazing, I can see why it had to be yours!
I’ve never seen a variegated cactus before, but I have eaten nopal quite often. Our cook in Mexico made it regularly, and it’s on the menu at Oyamel in DC. They’re really quite tasty!
Wonderful Plant 🙂
The variegated colouring is so unusual. But what is making me chuckle right now is looking at your garden colours, all the coleus etc and with the WordPress snowflakes falling gently on the screen 🙂 Love it!