Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Opuntia monacantha
Common name
Drooping tree-pear, Drooping pear, Smooth tree-pear
Family
Cactaceae
Where found
Woodland, pastures, grasslands, roadsides, railways, disturbed sites, waste areas, stream banks, and sometimes also coastal environs. Mainly in the Sydney area and north. Occasionally elsewhere.
Notes
Introduced bushy or treelike plant to 7 m tall, sometimes with a woody trunk. Spines on branches, flower bases, and fruit. fleshy stem segments and fruit. Stem segments very flattened. Leaves soon shed, 0.2-0.3 cm long, cylindrical or cone-shaped, spirally arranged. Flowers 30-75 mm in diameter, yellow with reddish markings on the undersides, and many 'petals', borne singly along the margins of the stem segments. Fruit red to reddish purple.
A Weed of National Significance. General Biosecurity Duty with additional restrictions all NSW. Pest plant ACT. Noxious weed Vic.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Opuntia~monacantha (accessed 29 January, 2021)
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