When I lived in Mexico, I was very familiar with the prickly pear cactus, not as a decorative plant but as food! People ate the nopales (pads of the prickly pear), and the tuna (fruit) was turned into a delicious juice called ' agua de tuna'. I drove by these beautiful specimans every day while dropping my boys off at school! I had to stop and do a photoshoot, of course! They made great models.