Atop a limestone mountain east of Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico, a pricklypear turned up looking like it had to be the abundant and variable Opuntia englemannii, but it was doing something I'd never seen that species do. Mainly the conical, soon-to-fall-off "leaves" and emerging glochids at spine bases were reddish orange, in morning sunlight causing the pads' rims to glow very prettily. The attached photos show the effect, a little. It was June with no flowers or fruits, and the glochids weren't fully formed so I couldn't see how they'd deploy later in the areoles. Lately I've learned about Opuntia aciculata, formerly considered a variety of O. englemannii, which is sold as a spineless ornamental, and it appears to have orange glochids. It's poorly known in the wild, limited to southern Texas and Northern Mexico, I read. Could the pictures show the wild form of O. aciculata? The last picture shows a plant beside my tent.
