NOMADINCA: Babutsa. One of its names that I come across is ‘Opuntia’ also the name of its genus, which was supposedly "named for the Ancient Greek city of Opus, where, according to Theophrastus, an edible plant grew which could be propagated by rooting its leaves". They are used as fences for their prickles and their ability to "grow into large clonal colonies". It’s from the Cactaceae family and the commonly edible ones also have the name ‘prickly pear’ and ‘indian fig’ while we call it ‘babutsa’ in Cyprus. It’s neither a fig nor a pear and probably it doesn’t have an Indian passport :) as all cacti are from the Americas. However, considering the western world's erroneously naming people of Americas as Indians, I think I have a guess why it's called Indian fig, too. If you wonder why ‘prickly’, look closer, very carefully. The type we have in Cyprus has difficult to see tiny spines as well as large prickles that lead you to think ‘i see and know what i’m doing!’ until you have those little ones in the most inconvenient parts of your hand and you are looking up toward the sun with your hand in front of you, to figure out a way to see the tiny spines. #plant #fruit #cactus #cactaceae #pricklypear #indianfig #babutsa #plants #greenandblue #blueandgreen #nomadinca #incagraphy