Cactus - the new cash crop

[sauSage]

Interesting article about the prickly pear cactus and global climate change...

We’ll All Be Eating Cactus in the Future Thanks to Climate Change

“Green gold.” “Future plant.” “World vegetable dromedary.” These are just a few of the terms used for the prickly pear cactus, a humble plant that, according to a new book co-published by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, can serve as a lifesaving crop for many countries...

earther.com

 

[Loveall]

Thanks, I enjoyed reading the article and learning from it. Go prickly pear! Now I want to get some in my salad...

 

[dreamer042]

Very cool. Opuntia is an awesome species. They got one thing wrong though, many prickly pears will survive freezes just fine. :thumb_up:

P.S. - Many Opuntia contain small amounts of mescaline. 8)

 

[Wakinyan]

Very cool. Opuntia is an awesome species. They got one thing wrong though, many prickly pears will survive freezes just fine. :thumb_up:

P.S. - Many Opuntia contain small amounts of mescaline. 8)

Very true indeed. We have a wild Opuntia here that grows clear up into Canada. Several different species that regularly take freezes are also found at our local botanical garden. Another good reason to visit your local botanical garden ayy?

 

[downwardsfromzero]

P.S. - Many Opuntia contain small amounts of mescaline. 8)

By small we mean microscopic to the point of insignificant? I'd call this apocryphal-to-myth status. Whichever, it's something that deserves re-analysis.

Reading through KTrout's marvellous collection of cactus information, it appears that in at least one instance misidentification was at play. The report of mescaline occurring in Opuntia cylindrica, as it was then known, was almost certainly a misidentified Trichocereus specimen.