Golden Prickly Pear (Opuntia Covillei)
(Named in honor of Dr. Frederick V. Coville, curator of the National Herbarium, Washington, D. C.)
How to identify and how it grows
Covillei, or the Golden Prickly Pear, is a plant two to three feet tall and three to four feet in diameter growing with ascending or spreading branches in jointed form, which are seven to ten inches long and four to six inches across. The general color of the plant is pale blue-green. This plant often forms in thickets during growth and is covered with numerous brown spicules occurring in bundles or growing in a fringe. There are about four spines of light brown and yellow suffused with white, sharp and needlelike. The flowers are very showy and of a bright golden color, about three inches in length and width. The fruit is pear-shaped and purple.
How to grow
Transplant at any season, or grow from mature cuttings planted five or six inches deep early in spring—they will then blossom the same season. Water about once a month to keep the soil slightly moist. Occasionally used in Southern California as a hedge plant. Plants will endure twenty degrees of frost without injury; for colder temperatures protection is needed. Grown indoors or outside.
Flapjack Prickly Pear (Opuntia chlorotica)
(The name chlorotica refers to the light green coloring of the plant)
How to identify and how it grows
The Flapjack Prickly Pear grows from three to six feet high from short trunks but a few inches long. The branches are erect, forming a rounded head which is quite attractive. The upper joints look very much like “flapjacks” from six to ten inches long and about as wide. The color of the plant is light yellow-green with sometimes a blue-green cast. The spicules are very conspicuous and are slender and very sharp, about one-quarter inch long, of a translucent yellow and arranged in a crescent form. The four or five spines are a little longer than the spicules, sharp, slender, and bristlelike, yellow and brown. The flowers are nearly three inches in length and width, are light lemon-yellow with orange-red centers, and blossom in May and June.