Cacti native to Minnesota

It's springtime at the University of Minnesota Conservatory Greenhouse where I've been volunteering. Outside the door is a small terrace garden of cacti that survive the winters here in St. Paul. Among the residents of the terrace are three characters native to western Minnesota, near Buffalo Ridge and the high prairie plateau that stretches through the central plains of the Midwest.

Other non-native residents surviving in this south-facing sheltered spot are a few Mexican agaves, aloe, Colorado tree cactus, and lace cactus (Echinocerus reichenbachii).

Echinocerus, lace cactus

Our western Minnesota native:

Opuntia macrorhiza, paddle cactus
Opuntia fragilis, brittle cactus
Pelecyphora vivipara (formerly Coryphantha vivipara), ball cactus

Opuntia macrorhiza, native to Minnesota

Fragile cactus, native to Minnesota

Pelecyphora vivipara (formerly Coryphantha vivipara), ball cactus

Ball cactus, native to Minnesota

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