If you haven’t spent much time on the prairies of North Dakota, you might be surprised to learn that we have five cactus species that are indigenous to the area. I believe that this one is either Opuntia polyacantha or Opuntia cymochila, a Prickly Pear species.
The Lakota names I’ve heard for Prickly Pear are Uŋkčéla blaská (Flat Cactus) and Uŋȟčéla-tȟáŋka (Big Cactus). (Uŋčéla is a generic word for all kinds of cactus.)
Despite the intense winters of the Northern Great Plains, cacti are abundant here, especially in dry areas. When you see them in the winter, they look shriveled up and dead, but they spring back to life when the weather warms up.
While the cacti species produce beautiful flowers in early summer, the fruits that they produce (uŋkčéla-tȟašpú) are pretty dry, and I don’t know anybody who eats them. However, they are an important food source for wildlife. The cactus pads themselves are a traditional food, though, and can be a good food source if you know how to remove the glochids and prepare them.
When I was looking into the cactus species of North Dakota, I found through this Minot Daily News article that North Dakota hosts North America’s third-largest collection of cacti at the Peace Gardens. It’s definitely worth a visit the next time I use that border crossing!
Plant Stories 