Opuntia stricta or ficus indica

Hello,

II got this Opuntia before 3 years ago... I saw some pictures, and now I'm a little bit confused.. I don't know what is this?





Is this O. ficus indica or O. stricta?

If it is O. stricta, are fruits edible or not?

Thank you!

Hi nzivanovic. Opuntia's are extremely difficult to positively ID. They tend to have many different variations in a single species.

Opuntia ficus-indica here in Australia usually grows very large pads and the fruits are about the size of an avocado. They also tend to be nearly spineless and have very few if any glochids on the pads. (fruits are another story)

Just by looking at the picture I would say that your plant looks like O. stricta. However, without a seeing the flower and fruits it is very hard, almost impossible to be 100% sure. Most opuntia fruits are edible.

The picture below is an Opuntia ficus-indica growing in the front garden of my workplace. The main pad in this picture is 60cm long by 30 cm wide. The fruits on this particular cultivar are mostly yellow, trending towards a reddish hue when over ripe.

Thank You very much for the quick reply. Yes, I can see now, exist much different ankles between my opuntia and opuntia from your picture. Now, I doubt that is O. ficus indica, I think that is O. stricta, but we'll wait to blooms and make fruits. When we will determine real identification.

Best regards!