- Opuntia microdasys
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This article is about a plant colloquially known as Bunny Ears. For other uses, see Bunny ears (disambiguation).
Opuntia microdasys 
Scientific classification Kingdom: Plantae (unranked): Angiosperms (unranked): Eudicots (unranked): Core eudicots Order: Caryophyllales Family: Cactaceae Genus: Opuntia Species: O. microdasys Binomial name Opuntia microdasys
(Lehm.) Pfeiff.Opuntia microdasys (Bunny Ears Cactus, Bunny Cactus or Polka-dot Cactus) is a species of cactus native and endemic to central and northern Mexico.
Description
Opuntia microdasys forms a dense shrub 40–60 cm tall, occasionally more, composed of pad-like stems 6–15 cm long and 4–12 cm broad.
Opuntia microdasys has no spines, but instead has numerous white or yellow glochids 2–3 mm long in dense clusters; these detach very easily on being touched, and can cause considerable skin irritation, so the plants must be treated with caution. Despite this, it is a very popular cactus in cultivation.
Related species
The very closely related Opuntia rufida differs in having reddish-brown glochids; it occurs further north in northern Mexico, and into western Texas. Some botanists treat the two as a single species.
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Opuntia rufida
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Opuntia microdasys
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