Opuntia ficus-indica

Opuntia ficus-indica
Opuntia ficus-indica community growing naturally in Gaziantep, Turkey
Conservation status
Data Deficient  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Order:	Caryophyllales
Family:	Cactaceae
Genus:	Opuntia
Species:	O. ficus-indica
Binomial name
Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Mill.
Synonyms[2]
Cactus decumanus Willd. Nopal Willd. Cactus ficus-indica L. Opuntia amyclaea Ten. Opuntia cordobensis Speg. Opuntia decumana (Willd.) Haw. Opuntia ficus-barbarica A.Berger Opuntia gymnocarpa F.A.C.Weber Opuntia hispanica Griffiths Opuntia maxima Mill. Opuntia megacantha Salm-Dyck Opuntia paraguayensis K.Schum.

Opuntia ficus-indica, the Indian fig opuntia, fig opuntia, or prickly pear, is a species of cactus that has long been a domesticated crop plant grown in agricultural economies throughout arid and semiarid parts of the world.^[3] O. ficus-indica is the most widespread and most commercially important cactus.^[2][3] It is grown primarily as a fruit crop, and also for the vegetable nopales and other uses. Cacti are good crops for dry areas because they efficiently convert water into biomass. O. ficus-indica, as the most widespread of the long-domesticated cactuses, is as economically important as maize and blue agave in Mexico. Opuntia species hybridize easily, but the wild origin of O. ficus-indica is likely to have been in central Mexico, where its closest genetic relatives are found.^[4]