Pitaya Cactus

Holly, I can't tell you anything about Ononis spinosa but I thought I would
take the oppurtunity to ask you an unrelated question.  I am cc'ing to the
list as it is about a plant that I want to know if it grows in a Medit
climate (i.e., mine).  It is a tropical plant though.

I was at the UCB Botanical Garden a couple months ago (and I swear I am
never doing that again without a 300 lb football player pushing me or an
electric cart--very very steep).  I had the chance to chat with a very nice
gentleman who was working on the cactus section.  I asked him the question
I've been trying to find the answer to for 13 years.  He took my email
address and said he would try to find out for me but I never heard back (he
probably misplaced that tiny piece of paper).

So maybe you or someone else here knows the answer.  The plant I'm looking
for is a commercial fruit so I don't know why it's so hard to find.  I was
in Nicaragua in 1986 and there was a common fruit there called pitaya.  I
never saw the plant.  The fruit is oval with a soft skin.  The inside is
bright purple with fleshy seeds similar to a pomegrante (but the pitaya
insides are all soft).  The fruit is used for juice.  When I first saw the
drink I was convinced it used food coloring...even diluted with water it
looks like supercharged grape koolaid.

I have spent countless hours searching the web to no avail.  All I could
find was that pitaya is a generic name for cactus fruit.  There are dozens
of varieties.  From a Nicaragua list I found out that the one I want is
definately a cactus and epiphilic (probably).  The fruit juice is sold
frozen in Miami and simply called pitaya.  No one knew the botanical name.
I have searched in vain for it, writing to cuators of cactus in Costa Rica
(in Spanish) and following up on every lead.

When I ask people they often come up with "the plant" that turns out to be
red and not purple or something like that.  This plant is distinct.  If you
have ever seen the insides of this fruit you would not soon forget them.

Thanks for any help anyone can give me.

Cyndi

_______________________________________________________________________________
Oakland, California            Zone 9 USDA; Zone 16 Sunset Western Garden Guide
Chemically sensitive/disabled - Organic Gardening only by choice and neccessity
_______________________________________________________________________________
"There's nothing wrong with me.  Maybe there's                     Cyndi Norman
something wrong with the universe." (ST:TNG)           cyndi@consultclarity.com
                                                 http://www.consultclarity.com/
_________________ Owner of the Immune Website & Lists http://www.immuneweb.org/
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