is opuntia deciduous
All members of the subfamily Opuntioideae have glochids: numerous, very small spines that are deciduous. Opuntia polyacantha. Plants of this Tephrocactus are always tiny, but they are fierce -- their spines are 2 or 3 times longer than the rest of the body. Not all cacti have spines.This peyote (Lophophora williamsii) has hundreds of trichomes in each axillary bud, but no spines.ravel. Published papers. Cactus Spines. The evolutionary conversion of leaves to spines in cacti. One defining feature of cacti is having clusters of spines. Numerous plants have spines of course, but in cacti, spines occur in clusters in the axil of leaves, even though the leaves are usually microscopic.