Bunny Ears

Bunny ears are sweet, velvety and adorable.  You can't help but want to touch them.  So, what sort of sadistic person decided that a diminutive form of Opuntia cactus should be named for something so soft and cuddly.

I'm warning you.  Don't try to snuggle up to Opuntia microdasys also known as bunny ears cactus. It doesn't have spines, but it has a thorny part which is more insidious. On each of the pads are clusters of tiny glochids. These glochids seem to jump from the plant onto your skin and clothes.  If you've come in contact with them, you'll know it. Glochids are like a paper cut you can't quite see. The tiny barbs are very irritating to your skin. If you're lucky someone with good vision will help you remove them with a sharp pair of tweezers.

Apparently, Opuntia microdasys cacti are not named for the softer side of bunny ears, but rather for the fact that the pads grow in pairs; just like a bunny's ears.  Thank goodness someone on the web cleared that up for me.  I was really starting to wonder about these cactus growers.

I recently purchased two bunny ears for my cactus berm. Everything on my berm is growing fine without any supplemental irrigation except for my blackfoot daisy.  I don't want to drag a hose out to the berm location, so out with the daisy and in with more cactus.

While searching for my new berm inhabitants, I discovered two related opuntias that I decided to grow in containers.  The first, Opuntia microdasys 'albispina' is also known as polka dot cactus and the second, Opuntia microdasys 'rufida' is sometimes referred to as cinnamon cactus.

These Opuntia are cute, but I would definitely recommend handling with care. I know I won't be confusing these cactus with bunny ears any time soon.