Lanzarote, Canary Isles: prickly pears near the Guatiza Cactus Garden, originally a 5000sqm volcanic ash quarry: 1420 cactus species, opened 1990.
Prickly pears, the edible fruit of the tunera cactus. A plant used on the Spanish mainland as a kind of barbed wire to protect property. However, in Lanzarote in the Canary Isles, until 1856 and the discovery of the first aniline dyes, the tunera served as room and board for cochineal beetles which were caught, dried and crushed, to produce red dye for clothing, food, drinks and cosmetics There are still 300 acres of tunera cacti under cultivation near the Guatiza Cactus Garden. The Canaries are a group of islands lying 100 kilometres to the west of the north African coast.
Size: 5232px × 3700px
Location: Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain.
Photo credit: © Robin Chapman / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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