O. ficus-indica, as the most widespread of the long-domesticated cactuses, is as economically important as maize and blue agave in Mexico.

Opuntia species hybridize easily, but the wild origin of O. ficus-indica is likely to have been in central Mexico, where its closest genetic relatives are found.

[3] In Mexican Spanish, the plant is called nopal, a name that may be used in American English as culinary terms.

[8] A perennial shrub, O. ficus-indica can grow up to 5 m in height, with thick, succulent, and oblong to spatulate stems called cladodes.

Cladodes 1–2 years old produce flowers, with the fruit's colours ranging from pale green to deep red.

[citation needed] The fruits are typically eaten, minus the thick outer skin, after chilling in a refrigerator for a few hours.

[3] They are sliced into strips, skinned or unskinned, and fried with eggs and jalapeños, served as a breakfast treat.

In Malta, a liqueur called bajtra (the Maltese name for prickly pear) is made from this fruit, which grows wild in almost every field.

On the island of Saint Helena, the prickly pear also gives its name to locally distilled liqueur, Tungi Spirit.

[10] In severe drought years, the spines of wild prickly pear are sometimes burned off for emergency feed.

O. ficus-indica is planted in hedges to provide a cheap but effective erosion control in the Mediterranean basin.

Under those hedges and adjacent areas, soil physical properties, nitrogen, and organic matter are considerably improved.

[12] O. ficus-indica is being advantageously used in Tunisia and Algeria to slow and direct sand movement and enhance the restoration of vegetative cover, thus minimizing deterioration of built terraces with its deep and strong rooting system.

[4] O. ficus-indica (as well as other species in Opuntia and Nopalea) is cultivated in nopalries to serve as a host plant for cochineal insects, which produce desirable red and purple dyes,[3] a practice dating to the pre-Columbian era.

[11] It is similar to crassulacean acid metabolism species, which are not salt-tolerant in their root zone, and growth may cease under high salt concentration.

[11] O. ficus-indica usually grows in regions where relative humidity is above 60%, and saturation deficit[further explanation needed] occurs.

If O. ficus-indica is cultivated for forage production, spineless cultivars are preferred, but wild plants are also used as fodder.

[29][30][31] For this reason, some agronomic studies in Italy and Mexico have focused on decreasing the seed content of Opuntia ficus-indica fruits.