Field Guide
Opuntia humifusa
The eastern prickly pear cactus has a fruit called a fig, and other oddities
Many people I talk to are confounded by the idea that there are cacti growing anywhere in Canada, since these plants are generally associated with arid and semi-arid, well-baked landscapes and deserts. There are in fact four variants of these hardy succulents native to this land: three of them thrive from Manitoba west and as far as 56 degrees north, near the Peace River in B.C. and Alberta. The inaptly named O. fragilis survives up there to temperatures as low as -50 C.
Then there is our subject this issue: O. humifusa, which is dotted only around the most southerly part of Canada, protruding into Lake Erie. There, at about 42 degrees north, where the climate is considerably more temperate, the eastern prickly pear cactus species is toughing it out. There are two verified locations, both on spits along the lakeshore.
Eastern prickly pear cactus grows in dry sandy areas, on rocky scrub, sunward hillsides and sand dunes near beaches. It cannot tolerate shade. At one time, reports suggest, it was common around Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair. Now, largely as a result of encroaching invasive species, land development, ATV use and other human activity that exacerbates erosion, it is rare and getting rarer. It has been listed as endangered on the Species at Risk Public Registry since 2008.
Sometime known as the devil’s tongue, it bristles with widely spaced barbed spines. This uninviting mien belies a genuinely fascinating plant. A typical perennial cactus, it is made up of several jointed stems called “pads,” which are rounded and flat (like a tongue, you might say) growing horizontal and vertical. The plant can reach 30 to 40 centimetres tall with a 70-cm spread, which is where it gets scientific name, humifusa: humus (Latin for soil or ground) and fusus, meaning spreading or creeping. When it blooms in late spring, large-ish golden flowers,
often with red centres, appear along the edges of the plant’s mature pads. They are remarkably attractive — to humans and to pollinators.
Oddly, its juicy fruit, which in no way resembles a pear, is called a “fig.” About 3-to-5 cm long, it is green until ripened in the fall, when it turns a warm reddish-brown. The fruit often remains on the cactus until the following spring. Each fig has as many as 30 small seeds. Where common, it is a staple food source for many species of birds and insects, as well as bears and other mammals. Like so many, I first learned about the prickly pear from a bear, indeed a singing bear — Baloo, that is, in the animated 1967 film The Jungle Book. I can still hear the mellifluous voice of Phil Harris singing, “Next time beware/don’t pick the prickly pear by the paw/when you pick a pear/try to use the claw.” Solid advice.
From Rudyard Kipling (via Walt Disney), we turn to T.S. Eliot, who in his bitter poem “The Hollow Men” replaces mulberry bush in the child’s song to scan “here we go round the prickly pear, the prickly pear, the prickly pear” in a macabre and desolate scene, a desiccated mockery of the naive optimism of the youthful ditty.
Today, prickly pear is a food staple, eaten raw or cooked. Opuntia ficus-indica — O. humifusa’s taller, domesticated cousin — is a popular cash crop in Mexico and throughout South America. The prickly pear’s water-rich seeds, leaves and fruit are all excellent and inexpensive sources of calcium, fibre, proteins, essential amino acids and vitamins. Several studies have found it helps reduce bad cholesterol and triglycerides, while other studies have concluded that taken prior to alcohol consumption, it can lessen the effects of a hangover. Traditionally, it was used by Indigenous peoples to treat wounds, warts and respiratory ailments. Today, the plant is being studied as a prophylaxis against colon cancer, while some researchers have shown that it can increase bone density and that it could be useful in mitigating hypoglycemia and hypolipidemia.
Because of its capacity to thrive in the most arid conditions, the plant has recently been bruited about as an ideal crop in time of global heating and desertification. It is a robust species capable of withstanding high heat, drought and poor soil while effectively capturing carbon and offering high nutritional value.
For the small clusters of eastern prickly pear still found in Canada, efforts continue to ensure their survival. Since 2010, Parks Canada has worked to stabilize the Lake Erie Sand Spit Savannah ecosystem to improve the critical eastern prickly pear habitat by reducing dogwood thickets, removing invasives, using controlled fires and planting native savannah species. For this plucky, determined species clinging to a tiny foothold in Canada, the struggle continues.