Look But Don't Touch: 

The Eastern Prickly Pear
Don Robinson

If you ever go on a hike along the place some local people refer to as 'Cactus Hill' in Largent, you may be amazed to see wild cactuses (Family Cacataceae) growing there. They are a very lovely, succulent perennial, growing in full sun and low to the ground like a small mat. This is the Eastern Prickly Pear cactus (opuntia humifusa-sometimes called opuntia compressa). Opuntia is the only cacti common in any area east of Texas, and its range extends up to Southern Ontario. The genus name opuntia comes from a small town in Greece where there are many different species of this genus to be found.

You may enjoy looking at these, especially in mid to late June when they are blooming, but do not even consider touching the plant. They are covered with small almost invisible bristles (called glochids) that will embed in your skin and cause you a lot of discomfort until you sit with a magnifying glass and tweezers and remove them. I can attest to this first hand.

I am a bit saddened when I see that thoughtless people have driven over a low mat of a bed of the plant growing in the shale barren with a four-wheeler, stunting the growth, if not killing the plant altogether. Because of the encroachment of man, these plants are getting less common, so we should try to protect what we have left. In the shale on Cactus Hill, opuntia grows where nothing else can. The roots are quite deep, and the well drained soil isn't a problem for this succulent, which stores water in the thick leaves. If a piece breaks off, it may root into the shale; it is hard to kill except by repeated crushing.

If you canoe below the south-facing cliffs in Largent during late June or hike along the old fire trail, you can see the plants lovely yellow bee covered blooms. A hike in Autumn will expose the red-purple fruits to your eyes. The picture I took on October 25, 2000 looks like two little green Martian feet with three purple toes. In late fall, the evergreen pads shrivel in preparation for Winter's freezing temperatures, but they quickly regain their succulence in Spring. Books I've read say that you can make jam and even ferment the juice from the fruit  (Native Americans did this), but I carefully picked one once with heavy gloves, and was very disappointed in the slimy texture and lack of flavor.

The plant has no insect pests, but turtles and deer browse the foliage and gray squirrels, doves, wild turkey, thrashers, woodpeckers, gray fox, Eastern cottontail,chipmunk and skunk eat the fruits. The 'meat' of the pads can be cooked and eaten by humans (after removing the spines and skin), but I'm in no hurry to try that. My neighbor in Frostburg has a patch in her yard. When she thins it, I'll try some. I hate to hurt the wild plants just for my curiousity's sake. After doing an internet search, I discovered  that many nurseries will sell the hard, round seeds or the plants.

Native Americans and some old folk-healers have used the crushed pulped pads as a treatment for wounds, warts, kidneys stones and lung problems.

The Martian feet. Are these toes sore?
The bloom. It is really beautiful.