An erect shrub, about 2.0 m. high, with broadly ovate, dull bluish green joints, bearing 4-6, pale yellow or light horn-coloured spines on each areole; spines usually somewhat curved, the largest very stout, 2.5-3.8 cm. long; flowers yellow, tinged with orange at the base; fruits pyriform, truncate, depressed at the apex, deep reddish purple when ripe.

Diuretic and stimulates the central nervous system (fruit); bitter, hot, laxative; stomachic, carminative, antipyretic (plant)

PIER

Arabinogalactan (pod polysaccharide)

Ophthalmia and for boils (leaf); cures biliousness, burning, leucoderma, urinary complaints, tumours, loss of consciousness, piles, inflammations, anaemia, ulcers, gonorrhoea and the enlargement of the spleen (fruit) ; whooping cough (baked fruit); to increase the secretion of bile and control spasmodic cough and expectoration (fruit syrup); in bronchitis and asthma (flower).

Chandel et al., Biodiversity in Medicinal and Aromatic Plants in India.