Opuntia ficus-indica
variety Santa Ynez

This is a view of the variety we feel to be superior for fruit production. The fruit of this variety is a delightful orange/red color, and the tiny spines (glochids) are not nearly as troublesome as on most other varieties. This plant can grow to a large size, but has a tendancy to topple in high winds if allowed to grow too tall.

This is a close-up photo of the edge of a Santa Ynez leaf. This is one of our best cactus plants for fruit. The leaves are very nearly free of glochids for most of their life. They come out in Spring and summer with very few glochids, then they harden some in fall. This particular leaf comes from a section of our hillside orchard that gets very little watering, so the plant is a bit desiccated. This shows the extreme conditions these plants can take.

Here we have the attractively colored Santa Ynez fruit.  This fruit is so very nearly free of hard glochids that I handle the fruit bare handed. The glochids are few on the fruit, but they are there. But when the fruit is ripe the glochids seem to soften, and many fall off. A person with soft hands might be well advised to handle them with dish washing gloves. But we are able to handle them with our kinda calloused hands without any real problems.