PlantSnap identifies an Erect Prickley Pear (Opuntia dillenii)

Opuntia dillenii is a coastal plant of the southern Atlantic coastal states and perhaps the western coast of FL. Maybe some of the Islands were home to it in pre-Columbian times. However, the species has spread to other continents including South America, Africa, Australia, and Asia and is an invasive weed in some of these new areas. The species is often conflated with O. stricta and this may obscure its actual current distribution. Some botanists even treat O. dillenii as a variety of O. stricta, and some treatments (eg, Flora of North America) don’t even recognize it. Both plants may grow in similar habitats, but they are dissimilar. One important (but not universal) difference is that O. dillenii has pads with scalloped edges. Additionally, it is much spinier than O. stricta. O. zebrina of southern FL may be a form of O. dillenii.