Great article! I would love to try making that cross if I can find a source for the Suluhna cultivar.
I’ve always wondered about the origin of O.c. ‘ellisiana’. Is there actually a population of glochid-less plants in it’s native range? Is it just one cloned cultivar that doesn’t grow true from seed? Or is it a hybrid with O. ficus-indica? I can’t find much info about that.
Thanks! I tried to find the origins of O. cacapana “ellisiana” with a literature search but nothing came up. If it were a hybrid with O. ficus-indica then I reckon it’d have a name to match. Having said that, none of Burbank’s “original” crosses have kept their lineage.
My best guess is that someone spotted a particularly unusual O. cacapana in the wild and took a cutting, that is, it’s a cultivar that won’t grow true. Opuntias species can hybridise (with lots of sterile offsprings), so there’s a chance that Ellisiana might just be a dead end. Only one way to find out!
That really makes me want to cross cereus with one of the hardy ceroids in the US like Echinocereus.
Yeah, that’s really interesting. Is it an official definition somewhere?
Well, it says in your profile that you’re from Provo, Utah. The map on this article says that you’re either in or right next to a semi arid zone: Semi-arid climate - Wikipedia
But you can also you use the strict definition in the article to double check.
I guessed you were in a semi arid climate anyway based off my mass media knowledge of Utah 
Huh! Well, I did the calculation in the article, and it looks like . . . yep, I’m solidly in what it calls a semi-arid climate!
There we go, cactus time!
(Chuckles.) Yeah, I’ve seriously considered prickly pear. But I’ve determined that, with this particular project, I’m only interested enough to be a customer of the successful plant breeder. 
Or a beta-tester. I could easily see myself helping out by testing “this may be a final product, but it needs to be tested in other climates to make sure” varieties.