Japanese name: 円武扇 Scientific name:Opuntia humifusa
[Overview]
A cactus forming a creeping, shrub-like plant 15–35 cm tall.
It produces many stem segments.
The stem segments are about 5–25 cm wide, thin, flat, round to elliptic and dark green; the areoles are small and scattered, and there are usually no spines, but brown glochids appear, and spines occasionally appear on the areoles along the segment margins.
Young stem segments bear awl-shaped leaves about 0.4–0.8 cm long.
The flowers are solitary, 5–7.5 cm across and bright yellow, sometimes red in the center, with 8–12 tepals.
The fruit is obovate, about 3–5 cm long, ripens red, and is edible.
[Uses]
The fruit and young stem segments are eaten.
[Cultivation]
Propagate from seed or cuttings.
It is very cold-hardy and can overwinter outdoors even in the Tohoku region.
It prefers a sunny, well-drained site.
It is best kept on the dry side; for potted plants, water thoroughly after the soil dries from spring to autumn, and reduce watering in winter.
For plants in the ground, rainfall is sufficient.
No fertilizer is particularly needed if base fertilizer is applied.
Scale insects can occur.
