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Mesa Tuna or Vasey's Prickly Pear
Opuntia x vaseyi
1998
Opuntia is named after a prickly plant of ancient Greece which grew in Opus 300 to 400 A.D. The original disappeared so its name was available because, to the ancients, nature abhorred a vacuum and no plant went extinct. Water pressure is what makes the lovely, salmon petals open or close. When picked, this flower closes swiftly, looking like the folds of a swami's skirts. Cactus are abundant only in places where water supplies are seasonally prevalent. Betanidin, a water-soluble cell-sap pigment related to the alkaloids, is very restricted in its taxonomic distribution, occurring only in a small group of plant families. Here it produces vivid hues and gives the red-purple colors to these cactus flowers.
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