prickly pear cactus
1
4.6
- noun
- /ˈprɪkli pɛr ˈkæktəs/
:
nopal
- In some regions, people pick ripe fruit from the prickly pear cactus to make delicious jams.
- prickly pear cactus fruit
- prickly pear cactus pad
- Nopal (prickly pear cactus)
Examples
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Though not a major U.S. crop, prickly pear cactus has significant value as an ecological plant, adding to wildlife habitat, ecosystem structure, and biodiversity.
Academic text (2006) -
PHOTO (COLOR): Prickly pear cactus, Opuntia spp., grows throughout the United States, with the greatest diversity in the desert Southwest and Mexico.
Academic text (2006) -
Different prickly pear cactus species produce flowers in an array of colors.
Academic text (2006) -
"The prickly pear cactus soaks up the afternoon sun."
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To control the advance of the prickly pear cactus, the Australians in 1925 began a classical biological control program.
Academic text (2006) -
But it was at the annual harvesting of the prickly pear cactus fruit that Ipa looked forward to seeing Coyomo the most.
Fiction book (1995) -
Prickly pear cacti are also important to Mexico's desert ecosystems, with 53 species occurring there.
Academic text (2006) -
I didn't know the name of the prickly pear cactus when I moved to Tucson, so I called it ping-pong-paddle cactus.
Academic text (2011) -
She saw a few scattered adobes, framed by enormous prickly-pear cactus, their red fruits glowing in the late-afternoon light.
Fiction book (1993) -
"It is very important to help prevent the moth's advancement into Mexico, where the prickly pear cactus is an economically important crop," he says. "The moth has certainly been worrisome since it was found in Florida."
Academic text (2006)
Synonyms
1
4.3
A cactus with flat stems covered in sharp spines and edible fruit
1
9.9
A tropical cactus that makes a sweet edible fruit
A group of cactus plants like prickly pears with flat spiny pads and edible fruit
A large cactus with flat joined stems that has edible fruit
How Spiny
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly derivable from the constituents: 'prickly' (spiny) modifies 'pear' (pear-like fruit or pads) and together describe a type of 'cactus', so a learner who knows the parts can infer it refers to a spiny cactus with pear-like fruit or pads. This is a regular noun-modifier composition found cross-linguistically, so the expression is immediately comprehensible to B1 learners who know the component words.
Etymology
Prickly pear cactus gets its name from a simple picture: the cactus has sharp points so it is prickly and it grows a round, edible fruit that looks like a pear. So the name tells us about the plant and its fruit.