Prickly pear cactus defines Texas, spreading across the diverse regions of the state as effortlessly as it spreads across inhospitable ground. This cactus decorated a space where trails split around a giant boulder beneath Enchanted Rock in Texas hill country. But it could've just as easily been in Big Bend, or the Panhandle. I suspect the tangerine wildflowers sheltering beneath its fleshy pads would be equally at home any place cactus grew.