Dragon fruit by other names
- To: "Medit-Plants"
- Subject: Dragon fruit by other names
- From: W* G*
- Date: Sat, 3 Mar 2001 12:37:51 -0500
On 3/02/01 8:45 PM Sean A. O'Hara (sean.ohara@groupmail.com) wrote:
>Elizabeth is completely right! Of course you can grow it from the seeds.
Hylocereus undatus can be grown from seeds, but it is much easier to
start from a cutting and is widely available from cactus dealers as it is
commonly used as grafting stock for cacti that are difficult to grow on
their own roots. Those red and yellow Japanese 'golf balls on a stick'
seen so
frequently are such cacti growing on H. undatus stock.
But H. undatus requires strong light and heat to grow, and it grows
and grows and grows - the individual stems can reach 20 feet (6 m) -
before it will fruit. I have several hundred yards of many plants - no
exaggeration; there is a hedge of this plant in Honolulu a half-mile
long - growing atop my stone walls but find the fruit, along with many
tropical fruits - rather insipid. So does everyone else on this island,
all of whom far prefer mangoes, pineapples, and papayas. The monkeys
are fond of them, however, and are welcome to all.
I grow the plant, which needs no care or fertilization, for its
spectacular
flowers - up to ten inches across - that open over a few nights every
month from May through October. Don't believe it will stand much
if any cold, and it does need a great deal of room, so not the best
plant for Med gardens, or indoors except in a large greenhouse.
'Dragon Fruit' must be a new marketing name as an older, if less
exciting name is 'Strawberry Pear.' In Mexico it has long been known
as pitahaya roja or pitahaya blanca, as there are red and yellow varieties
of the fruit.
Oddly enough, H. undatus first became known to science from a plant
collected in China. It is now pan-tropical but its origin is thought to be
in the West Indies, perhaps in Martinique. My most vigorous plants
descend from a cutting collected at Mombasa, Kenya.
If someone will remind me where digital snaps can be put up for viewing,
I'll be glad to do so to show how large this plant grows and how lovely
the flowers. Or I can send them directly to anyone who wants a look.
William Glover
Nevis, West Indies
