Plants succulent erect shrubs or small trees, 1.5-5 m tall; trunk, when present, terete; internodes dull green or greyish green, broadly to narrowly obovate, elliptic or oblong, (20-)25-60 cm long, 7-20 cm wide, thick; areoles usually narrowly elliptic, 2-4.5 mm long; spines usually absent, sometimes 1-6 per areole, pale yellow or white, spreading or deflexed, bristlelike or needlike, 0.3-3.2 cm long, bases flattened; glochids yellow, early deciduous. Leaves 3-4 mm long, conic, subulate, early deciduous. Flowers 5-8 cm in diameter; tepals yellow with reddish or green centres, tips truncate or acute, mucronate; petaloids spreading, yellow to orange, obovate to oblong-obovate, 2.5-3.5 cm long, 1.5-2 cm wide, margins entore or erose, tips rounded, truncate, mucronate, or emarginate; filaments yellowish, about 6 mm long; anthers yellow, 1.2-1.5 mm long; styles greenish, about 15 mm long; stigmas (6-)7-10, cream, 2-4 mm long. Fruits yellow, orange or purplish, 5-10 cm long, 4-9 cm in diameter; umbilici low and concave; seeds grey or tan, elliptic-orbicular, 4-5 mm lon, 3.5-4 mm in diameter,
According to the Flora of China, Opuntia ficus-indica has been introduced in many parts of the world for its edible your fruits or as a hedge.