Opuntia monacantha cactus fruiting at roadside hedge planted next to the house fence near Benagil Algarve Portugal Europe

Common names: Drooping prickly pear, Barbary fig, cochineal prickly pear, common prickly pear, drooping pear, drooping tree pear, smooth tree pear, smooth-leaf tree pear, spiny prickly pear, spreading prickly pear. Similar species of opuntia:Opuntia monacantha is very similar to Opuntia stricta (common prickly pear) and Opuntia ficus-indica (sweet prickly pear). These species can be distinguished by the following differences:▪ O. monacantha is a relatively tall shrub or tree-like plant (usually 2-5 m tall) with flattened and elongated (oblong or obovate) cladodes. These cladodes are hairless and have one or two large spines on most of the areoles on their surfaces. It has yellow flowers and reddish-purple fruit, and some of its cladodes droop towards the ground during fruiting.▪ O. stricta is a low-growing plant (usually 50-100 cm tall) with relatively large flattened and elongated (elliptic or obovate) cladodes. These cladodes are hairless and generally do not have any spines (sometimes one or two large spines are present) on the areoles on their surfaces. The flowers are bright yellow and the fruit reddish-purple.O. ficus-indica is a relatively tall shrubby or tree-like plant (usually 1.5-3 m tall) with very large flattened and elongated (oblong, elliptic or obovate) cladodes. These cladodes are hairless and do not have any spines on the areoles on their surfaces. It has yellow flowers and reddish coloured fruit.