''Selenicereus undatus'', the white-fleshed

pitahaya Pitaya () or pitahaya () (common names strawberry pear or dragon fruit) is the fruit of several cactus species indigenous to the region of southern Mexico and along the Pacific coasts of Guatemala, Costa Rica, and El Salvador. Pitaya is culti ...

, is a species of the genus ''

Selenicereus ''Selenicereus'', sometimes known as moonlight cactus, is a genus of Epiphyte, epiphytic, Lithophyte, lithophytic, and terrestrial cactus, cacti, found in Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and northern South America. The term night-bloomin ...

'' (formerly ''Hylocereus'') in the family

Cactaceae A cactus (: cacti, cactuses, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae (), a family of the order Caryophyllales comprising about 127 genera with some 1,750 known species. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, ...

and is the most cultivated species in the genus. It is used both as an ornamental vine and as a fruit crop – the pitahaya or dragon fruit.นิดดา หงส์วิวัฒน์ และทวีทอง หงส์วิวัฒน์. แก้วมังกร ใน ผลไม้ 111 ชนิด: คุณค่าอาหารและการกิน. กทม. แสงแดด. 2550 หน้า 37 - 39 Like all true

cacti A cactus (: cacti, cactuses, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae (), a family of the order Caryophyllales comprising about 127 genera with some 1,750 known species. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, ...

, the genus originates in the

Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

, ''S. undatus'' is originates from Mexico to Honduras; it may be a

hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two diff ...

. It is most frequently attributed to the island of

Martinique Martinique ( ; or ; Kalinago language, Kalinago: or ) is an island in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It was previously known as Iguanacaera which translates to iguana island in Carib language, Kariʼn ...

in the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

Description

Plant

Dragonfruit stems are scandent (climbing habit), creeping, sprawling or clambering, and branch profusely. There can be four to seven of them, between or longer, with joints from or longer, and thick; with generally three ribs; margins are corneous (horn-like) with age, and undulate.

Areoles In botany, areoles are small light- to dark-colored bumps on cacti out of which grow clusters of spines. Areoles are important diagnostic features of cacti, and identify them as a family distinct from other succulent plants. Gordon Rowley - Wh ...

, that is, the small area bearing spines or hairs on a cactus, are across with internodes . Spines on the adult branches are long, being acicular (needle-like) to almost conical, and grayish brown to black in colour and spreading, with a deep green epidermis. File:Starr 030702-0010 Hylocereus undatus.jpg, Segment File:Dragonfruit plant.jpg, Plant

Flowers

The scented, nocturnal flowers are long, wide with the

pericarpel In angiosperms, a hypanthium or floral cup is a structure where basal portions of the Sepal, calyx, the petal, corolla, and the stamens form a cup-shaped tube. It is sometimes called a floral tube, a term that is also used for corolla tube and cal ...

long, about thick, bracteoles ovate, acute, to 2.5 to less than long; receptacle about thick, bracteoles are linear-lanceolate, long; outer

tepals A tepal is one of the outer parts of a flower (collectively the perianth). The term is used when these parts cannot easily be classified as either sepals or petals. This may be because the parts of the perianth are undifferentiated (i.e. of ve ...

lanceolate-linear to linear, acuminate (tapering to a point), being long, wide and mucronate (ending in a short sharp point). Their colour is greenish-yellow or whitish, rarely rose-tinged; These outer tepals, or

sepals A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 Etymology The term ''sepalum'' ...

are about 65 in number, and bring the flower to a total width of up to . inner tepals are lanceolate (tapering to a point at the tip) to oblanceolate (i.e. more pointed at the base), up to long about wide at widest point, and mucronate, unbroken, sharp to acuminate (pointed), and white. File:Hylocereus undatus, jardín botánico de Tallinn, Estonia, 2012-08-13, DD 01.JPG, Flower bud File:HPIM0069.JPG, Blooming flower File:Hylocereus undatus in bloom in Kona.jpg, In bloom in

Kona, Hawaii Kailua-Kona is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Hawaii County, Hawaii, United States. It is most commonly referred to simply as Kona (a name it shares with the district to which it belongs), but also as Kona To ...

. Stamens long, are declinate, inserted in one continuous zone from throat to above the pericarpel and cream. The style (bearing the stigma) to 17, they are long, stout, thick, cream, and up to 26 stigma lobes, they can be whole or sometimes split at the top, cream, about long. Nectar chambers are long.

Fruit

The fruit is oblong to oval, long, thick, red with large

bracteole In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves in size, color, shape or texture. They also look ...

s, with white, or more uncommonly, pink pulp and edible black seeds.

Habitat

''Selenicereus undatus'' is

lithophytic Lithophytes are plants that grow in or on rocks. They can be classified as either epilithic (or epipetric) or endolithic; epilithic lithophytes grow on the surfaces of rocks, while endolithic lithophytes grow in the crevices of rocks (and are also ...

or hemiepiphytic. It is widely distributed through the tropics in cultivation. It is a sprawling or vining, terrestrial or epiphytic cactus. They climb by use of aerial roots and can reach a height of or more growing on rocks and trees.

Systematics

This species is closely related to ''S. ocamponis'' and ''S. escuintlensis''. ''Selenicereus undatus'' was described by (Haw.) Britton & Rose and published in Flora of Bermuda 256. 1918. In 2017, D. R. Hunt groups the genus ''Hylocereus'' within the genus ''Selenicereus''. This has been supported by a phylogenetic analysis of the Hylocereeae tribe (Korotkova, et al., 2017), therefore this species is consigned under the name ''Selenicereus undatus''

Taxonomy

The species's epithet ''undatus'' in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

means "wavy" from ''unda'' "wave", referring to the wavy edges of its branches' ribs. Night Flowering Cereus Lanikai

Common names

* * *English:

, dragon fruit, night blooming cereus, strawberry pear, Belle of the Night, Cinderella plant, Jesus in the cradle, moonflower * *Finnish: *French: pitaya, fruit du dragon, cierge-lézard, poire de chardon *German: Drachenfrucht, Distelbirne *Greek: Φρούτο του δράκου () *Hawaiian: ''panini-o-ka-puna-hou'' ("Punahou cactus") – a famous specimen still grows at

Punahou School Punahou School (known as Oahu College until 1934) is a private, co-educational, college preparatory school in Honolulu, Hawaii. More than 3,700 students attend the school from kindergarten through 12th grade. The school was established by P ...

*Japanese: , , *Korean: Yong-gwa (용과, 龍果, literal translation of dragon fruit), *Portuguese: pitaia, cato-barse, cardo-ananaz, rainha da noite *Spanish: pitahaya roja (Costa Rica, Colombia, Mexico, Venezuela); flor de caliz, pitajava (Puerto Rico); junco, junco tapatio, pitahaya orejona, reina de la noche, tasajo (Mexico) *Swedish: skogskaktus, röd pitahaya *Vietnamese: thanh long *Thai: แก้วมังกร (kaeo mangkon) *Malay: buah naga. pronounce:boo-ah naa-gaa *Malayalam: വ്യാളീഫലം. * zh, s=火龙果, 火龍果, p=huǒlóngguǒ *Italian: Pitahaya, Frutto del Drago *Bengali: ড্রাগন ফল (dragon fal) *Lithuanian: *Myanmar: နဂါးမောက်သီး

References

External links

* *
Dragon fruit plant grower's tips, greenhouse, flower and more
{{Taxonbar, from=Q131730 undatus Cacti of Mexico Tropical fruit Desert fruits Flora of Central America Crops originating from Mexico Crops originating from the Americas Garden plants of North America Drought-tolerant plants Night-blooming plants Epiphytes