Prickly pear, Cactus

Carmine is a colored pigment extracted from the female insect Coccus cacti or Dactylopius coccus, or its eggs. These insects live on prickly pear cactus in Mexico. The Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes brought the dye to Europe after seeing the Aztecs use it. 

As for anthocyanins, betalains are found in vacuoles and cytosols of plant cells. From the various natural sources of betalains, beetroot (Beta vulgaris) and prickly pear cactus (Opuntia ficus indica) are the only edible sources of these compounds. In the food industry, betalains are less commonly used as natural colorants from plant sources than anthocyanins and carotenoids, probably related to their more restricted distribution in nature. To date, red beetroot is the only betalain source exploited for use as a natural food coloring agent. The major betalain in red beetroot is betanin (or betanidin 5-0-P-glucoside). Prickly pear fruits contain mainly (purple-red) betanin and (yellow-orange) indicaxanthin and the color of these fruits is directly related to the betanin-to-indicaxanthin ratio (99 to 1, 1 to 8, and 2 to 1, respectively in white, yellow, and red fruits)." ... 

Frati, A. 1992. Medical implication of prickly pear cactus. In Felker P and Moss JR, editors. Proceedings of the Third Annual Texas Prickly Pear Council, pp. 29—34. Kingsville, TX. 

The story of cochineal is beautifully told by Amy Butler Greenfield in her book A Perfect Red, published in 2005. Cochineal was the dye which the Aztecs had discovered, and it is produced by the scale insect Dactylopius coccus that feeds only on the prickly pear cactus. The red molecule of cochineal is carminic acid881 and it constitutes 10% of their... 

Four examples of organic compounds in living organisms. Tobacco contains nicotine, an addictive alkaloid. Rose hips contain vitamin C, essential for preventing scurvy. The red dye carmine comes from cochineal insects, shown on a prickly pear cactus. Opium poppies contain morphine, a pain-relieving, addictive alkaloid. 

Control of prickly pear cactus In Australia achieved bv Cactoblastis cactorum. 

In the mid-1800s, a prickly pear cactus Opuntia stricta) was introduced to Australia as an ornamental plant, but, as with many other introduced plants, escaped cultivation and became established in the wild (Molles, 1999). The plant spread quickly, and covered over 20 million hectares by the... 

Sobieraj DM, Freyer CW. Probable hypo-glycaemic adverse drug reaction associated with prickly pear cactus, glipizide, and metformin in a patient with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Ann Pharmacother 2010 44 1334—7. 

Opuntia (Cactaceae prickly pear cactus, nopal, nopales)... 

Metabolism Prickly pear cactus is a popular food among Mexicans, Mexican-Ameri-cans, and Hispanics and is commonly used to treat type 2 diabetes mellitus. The combination of prickly pear cactus with oral hypoglycemic agents, such as metformin and glipizide, in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus may increase the risk of hypoglycemia because of additive blood glucose lowering effects [70" ]. 

Cochineal (Carminic Acid). Female insect. Coccus cacti, which lives on Prickly Pear cactus, found in Mexico. 200,000 insects yield 1 kg. of dye... 

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