Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Miller  

Scientific Classification:
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Tracheophytes
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Cactaceae
Genus: Opuntia Mill.
Species: Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Miller.
(It has about 250 species, only 2-3 have been seen in Saudi Arabia).

Distribution:
Australia, southern Europe, Africa, La, southern Asia, southern USA and some oceanic islands with warm climates.
In Saudi Arabia: It have become naturalized mostly in the Asir where these have been spread by baboon eating the fruits.

Habit:
Perennial, branched shrubs with large, succulent, sometimes cylindrical or globose stem-segments (phyllodes) with areoles, the areoles with barbed-bristles (glochidia) and 1-several spines each or spineless; the lower segments eventually assuming trunk-like proportions in tree-like species.

Leaves:
Small, subulate to cylindric, usually caducous.

Flowers:
Solitary, large and showy.

Fruit:
Berry with spine-bearing areoles or naked. Seeds numerous, enclosed in expanded funicles.