Something you don't want to mess with in Arizona.
Just one of many different varieties of cactus that live in the Great Sonoran Desert and surrounding areas.
This one is a Prickly Pear and it's very sharp spines covering the pads are a few inches long.
But the smaller hair-like bristles are the dangerous ones as they detach easily from the cactus and can become imbedded in one's skin.
In Mexico the cacti are known as nopales and are eaten as a delicacy.
After the needles are carefully removed, of course.
But me?
I think I'll just keep on avoiding them and watching where I step.
I've also heard them referred to as 'pan cactus' since they are usually friend in a pan. I've seen them for sale at some local grocery. De-spiked. There is a wonderful foodie movie, 'Tortilla Soup', that shows them being expertly cooked.
ReplyDeleteI would not want the job of "needle removal"
ReplyDeleteYou don't have to preach to this choir-member! I fell butt-first into a potted one at my grandma's house when I was a toddler. It's my earliest memory.
ReplyDeleteI remember touring Frank Lloyd Wright's estate in Scottsdale and when we were outside the guide told us to stay on the path because everything we'd encounter, plants and animals, were armed.
ReplyDeleteRanchers planted patches of those in tight formation to create a kind of cattle fence. We still see them in evidence. They look very nasty!
ReplyDeleteNice photos.
ReplyDelete