Big Pine Key Prickly Pear

Lying in the rainshadow of upwind mountains, the Cuban Cactus Scrub ecoregion is a semi-arid region of the Caribbean Basin supporting a thorny cactus scrub. The most characteristic and abundant flora species correspond to the xeromorphous coastal and subcoastal scrubland with abundant cacti succulents, also called coastal manigua. Cactus associate species to Opuntia triacantha include: O. dillenii, Harrisia eriofora, H. taetra, Pilosocereus robinii and Dendrocereus nudiflorus. Evergreen shrubs and small trees include: Bourreria virgata, Capparis cynophallophora, Eugenia buxifolia, Bursera glauca and B. cubana.