The top of a tuna

The previous post included a side view of the rich red tuna of a prickly pear cactus, Opuntia engelmannii var. lindheimeri. The view from above is quite different, because the top of each tuna is shallowly concave, in contrast to the convexity of the fruit as a whole. The mottling and cracking of the wide depression at the top often creates an abstract design that I find fascinating. Click the thumbnail below for an isolated enlargement of the pattern at the center of this tuna’s top:

For the different pattern created by the mottling of a prickly pear cactus pad rather than its fruit, see a post from the first week of this blog.

© 2011 Steven Schwartzman