Cactaceae, cactus family, family Cactaceae - constituting the order Opuntiales

Acanthocereus pentagonus, Acanthocereus tetragonus, pitahaya, pitahaya cactus - cactus of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico having edible juicy fruit

Aporocactus flagelliformis, rat's-tail cactus, rattail cactus - commonly cultivated tropical American cactus having slender creeping stems and very large showy crimson flowers that bloom for several days

Ariocarpus fissuratus, living rock - usually unbranched usually spineless cactus covered with warty tubercles and having magenta flowers and white or green fruit; resembles the related mescal; northeastern Mexico and southwestern United States

Carnegiea gigantea, saguaro, sahuaro - extremely large treelike cactus of desert regions of southwestern United States having a thick columnar sparsely branched trunk bearing white flowers and edible red pulpy fruit

night-blooming cereus - any of several cacti of the genus Cereus

coryphantha - a cactus of the genus Coryphantha

echinocactus, barrel cactus - any cactus of the genus Echinocactus; strongly ribbed and very spiny; southwestern United States to Brazil

hedgehog cereus - cactus of the genus Echinocereus

rainbow cactus - a stout cylindrical cactus of the southwest United States and adjacent Mexico

epiphyllum, orchid cactus - any cactus of the genus Epiphyllum having flattened jointed irregularly branching stems and showy tubular flowers

barrel cactus - a cactus of the genus Ferocactus: unbranched barrel-shaped cactus having deep ribs with numerous spines and usually large funnel-shaped flowers followed by dry fruits

Easter cactus, Hatiora gaertneri, Schlumbergera gaertneri - spring-blooming South American cactus with oblong joints and coral-red flowers; sometimes placed in genus Schlumbergera

night-blooming cereus - any of several cacti of the genus Hylocereus

chichipe, Lemaireocereus chichipe - tall treelike Mexican cactus with edible red fruit

Lophophora williamsii, mescal, mezcal, peyote - a small spineless globe-shaped cactus; source of mescal buttons

mammillaria - any cactus of the genus Mammillaria

feather ball, Mammillaria plumosa - a low tuberculate cactus with white feathery spines; northeastern Mexico

garambulla, garambulla cactus, Myrtillocactus geometrizans - arborescent cactus of western Mexico bearing a small oblong edible berrylike fruit

Knowlton's cactus, Pediocactus knowltonii - small clustering cactus of southwestern United States; a threatened species

nopal - any of several cacti of the genus Nopalea resembling prickly pears

prickly pear, prickly pear cactus - cacti having spiny flat joints and oval fruit that is edible in some species; often used as food for stock

cholla, Opuntia cholla - arborescent cacti having very spiny cylindrical stem segments; southwestern United States and Mexico

mistletoe cactus - a plant of the genus Rhipsalis

Christmas cactus, Schlumbergera baridgesii, Schlumbergera buckleyi - epiphytic cactus of Brazilian ancestry widely cultivated as a houseplant having jointed flat segments and usually rose-purple flowers that bloom in winter

night-blooming cereus - any of several night-blooming cacti of the genus Selenicereus

crab cactus, Schlumbergera truncatus, Thanksgiving cactus, Zygocactus truncatus - South American jointed cactus with usually red flowers; often cultivated as a houseplant; sometimes classified as genus Schlumbergera

succulent - a plant adapted to arid conditions and characterized by fleshy water-storing tissues that act as water reservoirs