Plants shruby, to 1 m tall, erct to sprawling, with many stem segments. Stem segments flat, (5-)7-10(-15) cm long, (3-)4-8(-10) cm wide, circular to elliptic-obovate, not disarticulating, bright green, low tuberculate, puberulent; areoles (9)11-16 per diagonal row across midstem segments, 2-5 mm in diameter, subcircular; wool white to tan, aging grey; spines absent; glochids about 3 mm long, numerous, nearly filling the areoles, usually yellow or whitish, sometimes reddish brown. Flowers: inner tepals 25-30 mm long, bright yellow throughout, aging to peach-coloured; filaments white; anthers yellowish; styles white; stigma lobes dark green. Fruits 20-25 mm long, 12-16 mm in diameter, spherical to ovoid, fleshy, pubescent, spineless; areoles 35-50. seeds 1-1.2 mm long, nearly spherical, girdle protruding to about 0.5 mm.
Opuntia microdasys flowers in spring. It is native Mexico but is widely cultivated elsewhere. It grows at several locations in Hargeysa, Somaliland, but is not as common as Opuntia stricta.