🌵 Built Like a Spiky Pancake Let’s get the anatomy out of the way. The prickly pear doesn’t bother with a normal, boring tree trunk. Instead, it builds itself out of thick, sturdy, jointed segments called “pads.” Picture a stack of flattened, green (or blue-gray) elliptically-shaped pancakes covered in spines and tiny, awful bristles called … Continue reading The Prickly Pear: Nature’s Spikiest Snack & Australia’s Worst Nightmare