Species library β€Ί Opuntia β€Ί Opuntia fuliginosa
Succulents Well documented

Opuntia fuliginosa

A tree-like prickly pear, up to about 4 m tall, from the dry forests and scrub of west-central Mexico, most common around 1,500 m in Jalisco and neighbouring states. It wants full sun and heat, a wet summer and a dry, mild winter.

Opuntia fuliginosa
Photo: Ricardo Betancourt SΓ‘nchez, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
At home, aim for
Day IntermediateTargets in Plantistry
Night A clear drop at nightTargets in Plantistry
Humidity Dry airBand in Plantistry
Light Full sunDLI and PPFD in Plantistry
Expects a seasonal restGrows in the ground

Where it grows wild

It grows in tropical deciduous forest, dry shrubland and on steep rocky slopes, forming a woody trunk topped by pads 15–20 cm long.

Recorded at 7–2,956 m, with a median of about 1,500 m. Most records lie between 1,000 and 2,000 m on the plateau and slopes of western Mexico.

Mexico CentralMexico NortheastMexico Southwest

πŸ”’ Growing it like that

The wild conditions above, turned into targets for a shelf, a tent or a greenhouse. The full profile has:

βœ“ Day and night temperature targets, and the limits it tolerates
βœ“ Humidity band, and how to hold it
βœ“ Light as DLI and PPFD for a grow light
βœ“ Wet and dry seasons, and whether to rest it
βœ“ Substrate and airflow
βœ“ A step-by-step setup to grow it like the wild

Grow Opuntia fuliginosa? Add it to a free garden and its full profile opens. Pro opens all 38,374 profiles in the library, plants and fungi.

Profiles are drafts built from measured range and climate and from published sources; each section carries its own confidence in the app. Photo from Wikimedia Commons, used under its CC BY 4.0 licence, unmodified.