Beavertail Cactus
Opuntia basilaris
Coachella Valley, California and Joshua Tree National Park
The evenly-spaced spots on the leaf pads are tubercles packed with a cluster of microscopic barbed and bristled glochids.  This is the plant's defense against animals that may want to eat it.  The Cahuilla native americans steamed the buds of new leaf pads for food and used the pulp from old pads for dressing wounds.

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