These are generally yellow, thin, a few millimetres long. The basal cladodes tend to lignify until a well-defined trunk is formed. The root system is not far below ground but in wild plants appears very extensive. They are hermaphrodites, with a calyx and corolla of barely visible sepals and conspicuous petals of different colours, most often orange-yellow. The pericarp is 2-2.5 times longer than the perianth and is tuberculated with about 8 series of spiral areolas.
Numerous stamens surround the gynoecium which is a pistil surmounted by a multiple stigma.
The ovary is inferior, unilocular, containing several ovules in laminal placentation. In Mediterranean countries and in cultivated plants, flowering occurs in May and June. The fruit is a fleshy, polyspermic unilocular berry. The flesh is formed from the papillary cells of the dorsal epidermis of the funicular involucre and the funicle while the epicarp derives from the receptacle, the vegetative tissue surrounding the ovary. The fruit of the different species and biotypes shows great variability in shape, size, colour and quality.