You are a real master troll, moonmad.

What ever you say, you must be the expert

You lucked out guessing that it would still be an Opuntia even though many
species formerly placed in that genus are now inother genera. On the other
hand, you are completely ignorant about the actual species.

No luck involved, I do not claim to be a cactus expert but I used to grow a 16
by 32 greenhouse full of them. Most grown from seed many bought from dealers in
the western states. Oputias are usually rather obvious and I did say it was
deformed from being grown in low light levels.

Ben never said it was being grown outdoors in Nebraska, only that he got it
from a friend as a gift.

If you would go back you would find that the guy did say his friend who gave
him the cactus found it growing in his garden.

I am very familiar with Opuntia humifusa. I grow several collections of the
species from different localities, including several I had collected from
the wild myself. There is no way the plant is Opuntia humifusa.

I didn't say it was Opuntia humifusa O. humifusa isn't even listed in my
source. Actually O. kiska-loro looks more like it but I would have to see the
real growth form to really hazard a guess. I think I said it might be O
compressa but that since it wasn't growing in it's true form it would be hard
to tell.

If I had to guess, I would say the plant is a badly etiolated Opuntia elata
but I would rather wait until it flowers. Note the dark blotch below the
areole typical for that species.

You could very well be right, I was just assuming that since his friend found
it in his garden it was a more cold tolerant species. Why does it bother you I
might have a little bit of knowledge about cactus? Do you have a patent on
cactus knowledge. I'm old enough to have had many passions in my life and I
hope to have many more. When something interests me I find out as much as
possible about it.

Moon