It Flipped Me Off!

That little bugger!

Actually, this is a four inch tall cactus pad I lopped off a rotting piece of another cactus. I just stuck it in the ground to see if it would grow. That was late last fall.

Sure enough, if you look at that "finger" from a different angle, you'd see it is a new pad growing on the original. You're a witness to the birth of a beavertail cactus!

Don't be taken aback by its youthful indiscretion. It's just an immature sign of "cactus rage" ;-)