Prickly pear

In Arabic “sabr” means both “prickly pear” and “patience” – which is why the cactus has become a Palestinian symbol of perseverance.

The prickly pear is a shrubby cactus with flat, fleshy pads covered in tiny, prickly glochids. It flowers yellow in spring and in summer produces sweet, juicy fruits known as cactus figs. Native to Mexico, it has been naturalised in the Middle East for centuries, where it was planted as a hedge around villages and orchards. It is extraordinarily resilient – it can regrow even from a single pad.

Significance in the country

Clumps of prickly pear, once planted along field boundaries, have often survived on the sites of villages abandoned in 1948 and have become a symbol of memory and of sumud – steadfastness on the land. The sabr motif appears in Palestinian painting and poetry, and in summer the fruits are sold in the streets.

Where it grows

Grows throughout Palestine: at the edges of fields and near villages in the West Bank, and in gardens and on the outskirts of towns in the Gaza Strip.

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