'''''Opuntia''''', commonly called the '''prickly pear cactus''', is a [[genus]] of [[flowering plant]]s in the [[cactus]] [[family (biology)|family]] Cactaceae, many known for their flavorful fruit and showy flowers.<ref name="cabi">{{cite web|title=''Opuntia ficus-indica'' (prickly pear)|url=https://www.cabi.org/isc/datasheet/37714|publisher=CABI|access-date=23 May 2018|date=3 January 2018}}</ref> Cacti are well-adapted to aridity, however, they are still vulnerable to alterations in precipitation and temperature driven by seasonalclimate weather changeschange.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Albuquerque |first1=Fabio |last2=Benito |first2=Blas |last3=Rodriguez |first3=Miguel Ángel Macias |last4=Gray |first4=Caitlin |date=2018-09-19 |title=Potential changes in the distribution of Carnegiea gigantea under future scenarios |journal=PeerJ |language=en |volume=6 |pages=e5623 |doi=10.7717/peerj.5623 |doi-access=free |issn=2167-8359 |pmc=6151114 |pmid=30258720}}</ref> '''Prickly pear''' alone is more commonly used to refer exclusively to the fruit, but may also be used for the plant itself; in addition, other names given to the plant and its specific parts include ''tuna'' (fruit), ''sabra'', ''sabbar'', ''[[nopal]]'' (pads, plural ''nopales'') from the [[Nahuatl]] word {{lang|nah|nōpalli}}, nostle (fruit) from the Nahuatl word {{lang|nah|nōchtli}}, and paddle cactus. The genus is named for the [[Ancient Greece|Ancient Greek]] city of [[Opus, Greece|Opus]],<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kaN-hLL-3qEC |first=Umberto |last=Quattrocchi |title=CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names |volume=III M-Q |year=2000 |publisher=CRC Press |isbn=978-0-8493-2677-6 |page=1885}}</ref> where, according to [[Theophrastus]], an edible plant grew and could be propagated by rooting its leaves.{{failed verification|date=September 2023}} The most common [[culinary art|culinary species]] is the "Barbary fig" (''[[Opuntia ficus-indica]]'').
