I love this cactus! We discovered it growing all across our property and want to share it with you.
Prickly Pear is more than just your average cactus. Besides producing the loveliest little yellow flowers, it contains medicinal properties, and it is also an excellent food source.

This listing is for one medium-sized pads.

This is what the Missouri Botanical Garden website has to say about this cactus:

"Prickly pear cactus is a clump-forming, semi-prostrate, Missouri native cactus which typically grows 6-14" tall. It commonly occurs in rocky open glades, rocky prairies, sandy and gravelly washes of valleys along streams, fields, open woods and along railroad tracks in central and southern parts of the State (Steyermark). It is the only cactus to be widely found in the eastern U.S., has good winter hardiness and grows as far north as southern Ontario. Features jointed, round-to-oval, flattened, succulent green pads (2-10" across) which are not leaves but swollen water-storing stem segments. Pads have only scattered needle-like spines, but are covered with numerous tufts of bristles (glochids) which easily pierce human skin and can cause significant allergic skin reactions. Showy bright yellow 2-3" diameter flowers, sometimes with a reddish eye, have 8-12 yellow rays and a bushy clump of yellow center stamens. Flowers bloom in June-July. Pulpy, red fruits (to 2") ripen in late summer to fall and are edible, most often being used to make candies and jams. Native Americans not only ate the fruits (fresh, cooked or dried for winter), but also roasted the pads as a vegetable and used the sap for certain medicinal applications. In autumn, the pads become quite shriveled and begin to lie down as the plants withdraw water in preparation for winter. Though technically evergreen, the plants become quite scraggly in appearance during winter. However, the pads green up quickly in spring."

Like all cactus, it loves dry heat and it wants to be left alone. It doesn't care if you put it in the hottest, rockiest part of your garden or a container. Either way, plant it and forget about it until you see the pads looking a little shriveled and dry. Add a little water and repeat the process and soon you'll have the biggest, best prickly pear in the neighborhood!

When your plant produces fruit, pick them! They are totally edible and make the most delicious jams and jellies.