Photo: Andrey Zharkikh — CC BY 2.0 · source
Survives zone 4 through 9
Harvest calendar
Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.
Named for its large, tuberous roots (macrorhiza, "big root"), which store water and let the plant survive extended drought and hard freezes on the open plains; its reddish-purple, spineless fruit is fleshy and edible. ⚠ Glochids.
- Hardiness
- Zone 4–9
- Habit
- Groundcover
- Edible part
- Seed, Fruit
- Ripens
- Late summer–autumn
- Mature size
- Low spreading clumps 15–40 cm tall, to about 1 m across; excellent in containers
- Light
- Full sun (open-ground desert/glade)
- Soil pH
- 6.5–8.0 (neutral–alkaline, sharp drainage)
- Environment
- Temperate
- Native range
- Great Plains and south-central US, in dry plains, grasslands, and open woodlands.
- Status
- Wild
- Years to fruit
- 2–3 yrs
- Growth speed
- Slow to moderate — a few new pads a season once established
- Spacing
- 120 cm (47 in) apart — about 1.4 m² (16 sq ft) per plant
- Leaf shape
- Flat, jointed, round-to-oval, dull green to bluish-green fleshy pads, 2–5 in (5–13 cm) long and 2–4 in (5–10 cm) wide.
- Root system
- The exception in this genus, and the reason for the name: some of the roots are tuberous-thickened, fleshy storage organs rather than the shallow fibrous mat the other prickly pears rely on. That is a defining character in the floras — 'bigroot' and 'tuberous-rooted prickly pear' are both common names — and it is what lets the plant survive prairie drought and fire.
- Fruit description
- Fleshy, reddish-purple, spineless fruit.
- Propagation
- Propagated from pad cuttings, calloused before rooting in gritty soil; the tuberous roots make it less amenable to division than to fresh pad starts.
- Pollination
- Self-fertile
The edible parts listed above are a starting point, not a field guide. Identify a plant with certainty — ideally against a local authority — before eating any part of it, and read the full disclaimer. Spotted something wrong? Report it.
Growing guide
Fertilizing. Wants lean, well-drained, slightly acidic sandy or rocky soil and little to no supplemental feeding; the fleshy taproots already store what reserves it needs.
How it spreads. Low, clump-forming mat, generally under 10 in (25 cm) tall but spreading to 3–5 ft (about 90–150 cm) wide.
Growing tips. Drought-tolerant and rabbit-resistant once established; needs full sun and sharp drainage. Its large taproot-like tuberous roots mean it dislikes being transplanted once established and does best planted where it can stay long-term.
Grow journal
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