Prickly pear is edible!

Yes. If not for humans, it is so for cattle. But the fruit of course is edible. Recently I read about this particular kind of Opuntia which is thornless. To my delight, I found this plant standing green and healthy in the Dharma Vana Arboretum nursery and I believe that this plant has great potential in providing nutrition security to semi-arid regions as it can sustain cattle. I found a lot of literature on the possibility of using this plant as a livestock feed while looking for a suitable photograph to accompany this post.


The above photograph is from the blogspot, (http://mesilla.blogspot.com/2007/04/spineless-cactus.html) which gave a very nice account of the plant and also Luther Burbank, "The Plant Wizard." Burbank was born in 1849 and had no schooling beyond 6th grade, but he did have an intense fascination with plant breeding. He is credited with creating over 800 strains and varieties of plants, including the "impossible" plumcot, which he called "a cross which man said could never be made."