on another forum I am on a young girl was talking about a fruit bearing cactus, she didnt know the name of it but she eats the fruit on a regular basis so I am guessing its not poisonous. She said the fruits look like small bright red strawberries any idea's? I will try to get pictures from her later. Edit: Ok I got the pictures! She also said the fruits are sweet & tangy
Sounds like she is describing Prickly Pear cactus. Altho the fruit, also called cactus 'figs' because of their shape, are not fully ripe until late summer/early fall when they are larger than a fig and dark maroon in color. They do start out as small bright red round fruit in late summer. They are very sweet and make great jelly.
I've never heard of prickly pear cactus before, but I am going to get one, they sound interesting & cati, & succulents do great on the east side of my house (nearly full sun, for 6-8 hrs a day)
I believe that's a cactus of the mammillaria species. I had one in my window sill when I was a little girl of 10. There was only a plastic marker with the word Mammillaria on it, but I remember the plant well.
The cactus in the pic is definitely not Prickly Pear (Opuntia). Check out some pics of Echinocereus. These cacti are known as Hedgehog Cactus or Strawberry Cactus. Here is a link to some pics http://cactiguide.com/cactus/?genus=Echinocereus
Okay, now that you have a picture posted of it that is definitely not a Prickly Pear. I don't know if you could sucessfully grow a Prickly Pear, but they require truly full sun at least 6 hours a day. They are all over the place in west Texas and places further west and like it extremely hot.
