- oipy
28
Plant of the Week: Opuntia
Hello my darling flowers! Today, in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, I bring you a plant that is very dear to Mexican people.
The Opuntia cactus, commonly known as Prickly Pear, is native to Central America (although it can also be found in North America, including Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and all those dry states) and goes all the way down to the South through the Andes region to Patagonia. Like I said, this plant is very important to the Mexicans who have it on their flag, and is nationally called Nopal. The Pads are usually refered to as Nopales. It is edible, and it is very common in Mexico to take their spines off and grill them, chop them and eat as a salad, or mince them and use in tacos. Supposedly, it tastes like juicy asparagus. It produces a fruit, commonly known as cactus pear. It is also edible and said to be very sweet.
Being a cactus, it handles drought very well, storing water inside its pads. You know, spines prevent the water from evaporating from the plant, and their roots grow really long to catch any water they can. Their flowers can be white, pink, red, or orange and they bloom pretty often, as they aren't dependent on leaf growth, they have more energy to bloom. As as hosue plant, always place it outside on a pot with very well draining mix, consisting of perlite, small rocks, sand and normal soil. Don't water it too often. they LOVE being "neglected."
Were you to hypothetically get lost in Mexican desert and came across this plant, you would survive because you can eat it and be hydrated and full thanks to it. How cool is that?
STARBLOGGER STARDOLL
- 2010vampire Posting yang ditam…: "The NEW Disney Wizards"
- midnightmonkey627 Posting yang ditam…: "Styling OOTM 2023"
- Vulacano10624 Posting yang ditam…: "CallieCon AMA - Q&A with Vulacano106 - Part 2"
- Elizabeth_C.K.28 Posting yang ditam…: "HOMEMADE SNACKS RECIPES #3 - Popcorn"
- Justanother.18 Posting yang ditam…: "5 Art Ideas- Get Creative!"
- PIMIENT0 Posting yang ditam…: "Stranger Talks"
- Dadaliana268 Posting yang ditam…: "Suite Design for a Sweet Dime #2"
- allcatsmeow2 Posting yang ditam…: "Cat-O-Ween Con: Black Widow Edition!"
- -sassychic1998 Posting yang ditam…: "virtual styling 12"
- imweirdo Posting yang ditam…: "My thoughts on a climate crisis"
- madmadeleine69 Posting yang ditam…: "Sauteed Chicken Breast Pan Gravy"
- muge_derin Posting yang ditam…: "Starcoin Outfits #12"