iN PHOTOS: Prickly pear cactus has brief, colourful bloom in Kamloops, Okanagan

In late spring and early summer, the grasslands in Kamloops and the Okanagan are filled with the colourful blooms of the region’s only cactus, but the blooms only last for a few days or a week.

One of the country’s few native cacti, the prickly pear cactus blooms in early June in an array of colours including yellow, orange and pink on open sites with sandy or gravely soils.

The prickly pear cactus is a remarkably resilient plant that can thrive in arid and desert regions, and survive in low-water conditions and extreme temperatures by shrivelling up and hibernating during the winter months, according to Nature Trust British Columbia.

The spines are modified leaves that minimize moisture loss and attach to passing wildlife to be deposited in new areas.

The cactus has flat, fleshy pads that store water, photosynthesize and produce flowers, which turn into small, pear-shaped fruit, according to Sierra Club BC.

Historically, Indigenous groups ate the fruit to help with incontinence, used the spines as needles and roasted the stems to be eaten as a vegetable. The fruit can be turned into a jelly.

Prickly pear cactus is food for insects, wood rats and turtles, and because of its extensive root systems, the cactus helps to stabilize soil.

If you have photos of fauna to share, send them to news@infonews.ca.

A prickly pear cactus in Kamloops has pink blooms.

SUBMITTED/ Howard Leggatt