Fairly common in dry, sandy, open areas in the Coastal Plain, this low-growing cactus also rarely occurs in the Mountains and Piedmont of North Carolina.

Wake Co., NC 5/23/2009.

The spines (sometimes lacking) are not nearly as obnoxious as those of the less common Dune Prickly-pear (Opuntia pusilla), which is restricted to the immediate coast.

Wake Co., NC 5/23/2009.

Showy yellow flowers appear in late spring.

Wake Co., NC 5/23/2009.

Wake Co., NC 5/23/2009.

Wake Co., NC 5/23/2009.

Wake Co., NC 5/23/2009.

Wake Co., NC 5/23/2009.

Wake Co., NC 5/23/2009.

Robeson Co., NC 5/29/08.

Robeson Co., NC 5/29/08.

Robeson Co., NC 5/29/08.

The prickly, pear-shaped fruits ripen in fall.

Eastern Prickly-pear is given the fanciful moniker "Devil's-tongue" by the USDA PLANTS website. Formerly known as Opuntia compressa.

Sandhills Game Land, Scotland Co., NC 9/24/03.

Currituck Co., NC 11/8/08.

Currituck Co., NC 11/8/08.

The fruits, which are technically berries, are edible when ripe.

The flesh is moderately tasty. The seeds are extremely hard and surrounded by amazingly mucilaginous goo (to use the precise botanical term for it).