Grizzlybear Pricklypear

Mojave prickly pear, Opuntia erinacea, is found in California's Mojave Desert as one of the locations of occurrence of this species, . Some of the common flora associates are Shockley's goldenhead, Acamptopappus shockleyi; Desert senna, Cassia armata; Mojave dalea, Psorothamnus arborescens;and Spiny menodora, Menodora spinescens . Example cacti associates in this desert are: Silver cholla, O. echinocarpa; Beavertail cactus, O. basilaris; and Many-headed barrel cactus, Echinocactus polycephalus. The chief megaflora of this desert region is the Joshua tree, Yucca brevifolia. Soils here in the Mojave are mainly coarse sands and gravels with many outcrops that offer diverse habitat niches

Opuntia erinacea, the Mojave prickly pear, variously treated as a species, or as a variety of Opuntia polyacantha, in the family Cactaceae, that is a distributed throughout the Mojave and into the southern Great Basin deserts.

Opuntia erinacea is proposed by A.D. Stock to be an allopolyploid that resulted from hybridization between Opuntia diploursina and Opuntia basilaris.; although ties with other varieties of Opuntia polyacantha are also strongly evident.