Landscape Uses:
	Accent shrub.
Ecological Restoration Notes:
Availability:
	Native plant nurseries. Available in Naples at Everglades Native Designs.
Description:
	Medium or small succulent shub armed with gray spines.
Height:
	Typically 2-4 feet in height. Usually about as broad and tall.
Growth Rate:
	Moderate.
Range:
	Eastern United States west to Montana and New Mexico and south to the Monroe County Keys. In the Monroe County Keys, disjunct from Miami-Dade County to the pine rocklands of Big Pine Key, where very rare or extirpated.
Habitats:
	Pinelands and open coastal uplands.
Soils:
	Moist to dry, well-drained sandy or limestone soils, without humus.
Nutritional Requirements:
	Low; it grows in nutrient poor soils.
Salt Water Tolerance:
	Low; does not tolerate long-term flooding by salt or brackish water.
Salt Wind Tolerance:
	Frontline; grows in direct salt wind but away from constant salt spray.
Drought Tolerance:
	High; does not require any supplemental water once established.
Light Requirements:
	Full sun.
Flower Color:
	Yellow.
Flower Characteristics:
	Showy.
Flowering Season:
	All year; peak spring-summer.
Fruit:
	Red to purplish berry. Edible. Highly ornamental.
Wildlife and Ecology:
	Attracts insect pollinators. Nectar plant for dotted skipper (Hesperia attalus) butterflies.
Horticultural Notes:
	Can be grown from cuttings and seed. For cuttings, break off mature pad at joint. Let dry for a few days. Set cut end in potting soil several inches deep. Water every 2-3 days. Roots will form soon and initial growth will be rapid. Good drainage is essential.
Comments:
	Part of a species complex with significant variation that has been undergoing taxonomic revision; some plants along the coast in South Florida may be Opuntia mesacantha subsp. lata. Local sources are best used.