We had a storm roll in and give us another couple of inches of much needed rain. It made for more dramatic photography. Here's some of the interesting parasitic plant, Dodder, floating in the river that I photographed for the Black and White challenge two weeks ago. Its spaghetti-like form is really interesting.
The rest are the flower of the Prickly Pear Cactus, Opuntia engelmannii, which grows in the sunny prairies of my farm.
When the flower falls off the fruiting body holding it--the prickly pear--will ripen to a dark red. In Spanish it is called a tuna, and makes a delicious jelly. The pads are called nopales, and once the thorns are removed are cut into small pieces called nopalitos which are added to salsa or steamed like green beans . Living so close to Mexico, it is common to see all of these sold in the produce section of our local grocery store.
20 comments:
Sweet!! Love the PP flower..:-)
Great shots, we have what we call horse cactus here that is somewhat similar to your prickly pear. It has the same yellow flowers but I've never tried eating the pads.
Beautiful shots! You have a very creative eye. I hope you are having a great weekend!
Great Shots! I love the first three shots, they looks a bit special for me. Lovely! :D
The flower on that prickly pear is very pretty. We can get nopales here at a restaurant - it's really good!
Beautiful shots! We have prickly pear in a few places in KY, but I've never seen it bloom.
Great pics. I took some of our cactus blossoms this week too. Great minds...
I don't beleive I have ever seen a prickly pear. That is way cool. I love your yellow!
Happy weekend.
Love the prickly pear!
I have a PP in my front flower box, in Kentucky. Every year it gives me the most beautiful blooms. The downside? Everyone gets thorns if they get anywhere near them.
We don't have anything resembling prickly pear here, so thank for the informative post. Great photos of the closeup.
Great shots of the prickly pear flowers. Mine are all full of those crazy beetles that eat them.
CeeCee, perhaps you are talking about the Cochineal beetles. They lay their larvae in the strange white fuzzy stuff which is worth about $60 an ounce.
The Navajos use it to dye their wool purple for their rugs. If you lived through the 50-70's it was also used as food coloring. I don't think we would have eaten it if we'd known! Thank goodness for labeling now.
Pretty pics...even if the dodder is invasive!
Wonderful and fascinating photos all....and a few new things learned, too.
Thanks and have a great weekend!
~Lisa
Oh wow, just love the prickly pear!!! The moth is great too!
Great pictures, love the cactus.
What a great bunch of yellow! The cactus shots are very well done, I also liked the explanation..I learn something new everyday! :)
Great shots.....so creative and colourful! :)
Beautiful photography Sage! I'm not close to Mexico at all, but all the grocers here sell nopalitos and other Spanish items. We have a large immigrant population here. I have a prickly pear, started it from one pad; it's three years old and two feet tall now..multiple pads. I've gotta find a permanent place for them. Most folks in these parts put them near their mailboxes, but I want to see mine! I love them!
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