Quote:
Originally Posted by hauntedheadnc
"Prickly"? You'd merely call those hand-stabbing devil's paddles "prickly"? I think not.
At least the one in the pot on my front porch, however gorgeous its yellow flowers may be, is Satan's own beaver tail.
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Most cacti afford you the warning of big ole thorns that are easily seen and that even if you somehow get pierced by, you can remove them fairly easily. Prickly pear, though, there's no reasoning with them. I have some out front by the street, and their "thorns" are more like the hairs of a tarantula, where if you brush up against them, they simply come off into your skin, continue to poke you, and cause an irritation and rash the same way tarantula spider hair does. Getting them out is nearly impossible since they're so fine. I usually just end up dragging a knife across them to hopefully remove a few and chop the top off and let it be. I've seen huge groups of these growing on people's easements here near the street, and while zipping by on my bike, I've always been horrified at that thought of wiping out and then landing in one. They are pretty, though, and they have really pretty yellow flowers with red on the inside. Bees and butterflies love them, by the way.