The reddish fruit has a deeply depressed scar where the flower was attached. Dana Point Headlands, Orange County, CA. 11-3-11. © Joan Avise

Oracle Cactus
(Chaparral Prickly Pear)

Opuntia oricola

Occasional on dry slopes in coastal sage scrub and toyon-sumac chaparral; San Joaquin Hills (Roberts).

A very spiny 3-10 ft. succulent shrub with flattened joints or pads that are almost round.  Flowers are yellow with green stigmas on purplish red styles.  There are many petals, sepals and stamens and an inferior ovary.   Flowers occur on joints grown in the previous year. 

Cactaceae

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Dana Point Headlands, Orange County, CA. 11-3-11. © Joan Avise
Spines are yellow, aging to brownish gray, 3/4 in. long, flattened and slightly hooked.  Dana Point Headlands, Orange County, CA. 11-3-11. © Joan Avise

El Modena Hills, 1-23-14. © Ron Vanderhoff.
El Modena Hills, 1-23-14. © Ron Vanderhoff.

Dana Point Headlands, Orange County, CA. 11-3-11. © Joan Avise
Signs of infestation by Cocheal Insect. Dana Point Headlands, Orange County, CA. 11-3-11. © Joan Avise

Dana Point Headlands, Orange County, CA. 11-3-11. © Joan Avise