Opuntia ficus-indica
variety 'Burbanks spineless'
I would love to say that this plant is spineless,
but it definately is not. Luther Burbank may have developed this plant,
or it could be that he just got it from someone else and promoted it greatly.
At any rate he made the plant famous, and we carry it now to honor the
late Great Plantsman Luther Burbank.
there is a tale that he once removed
all the spines from one of these plants, then calling a press conference
(he was a great showman), he rubbed the plant against his bare cheek to
the delight and amazement of the press.
The plant never got to be real popular
in his lifetime, but it does have some nice leaves, spectacular blooms
and nice looking bright red fruits, although they are a bit too tangy for
me to bother trying to eat, we have much better varieties available.
It is however a nice plant for the landscape
garden.
This shows the deep color of these fruit. The juice is also very dark and rich looking. Though the plant is attractive with it's nice branching and low growing character, and the fruit and flowers are pretty, I don't bother eating it at all, it is too tart for my tastes.
And note: this plant is SPINY, regardless of what Mr. Burbank named it!