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The fruit is often designated as "Vietnamese dragon fruit" as Vietnam is the lead exporter. [5] The fruit may also be known as a strawberry pear. [2] [6] The names pitahaya and pitaya derive from Mexico, and pitaya roja in Central America and northern South America, possibly relating to pitahaya for names of tall cacti species with flowering ...
The fruits, known locally as pitaya, olala (only in some parts of Bolivia) or Peruvian apple, are thornless and vary in skin colour from violet-red to yellow. The edible flesh is white and contains small, edible, crunchy seeds. The flesh sweetens as the fruit opens out fully.
Dragonfruit stems are scandent (climbing habit), creeping, sprawling or clambering, and branch profusely. There can be four to seven of them, between 5 and 10 m (16 and 33 ft)or longer, with joints from 30 to 120 cm (12 to 47 in) or longer, and 10 to 12 cm (3.9 to 4.7 in) thick; with generally three ribs; margins are corneous (horn-like) with age, and undulate.
The plant Weber described had a triangular stem-like Cereus trigonus, but was "distinguished by its more glaucous stem and especially by its fruit, just as big but more spherical, less scaly, and filled with a crimson pulp of a very delicate taste." [4] It was said to be highly sought after in Costa Rica for its fruit, known as pitahaya. [5]
The species is grown commercially for its yellow fruit, but is also an impressive ornamental climbing vine with perhaps the largest flowers of all cacti. The yellow skinned fruit of S. megalanthus has thorns, unlike the green, red or yellow skinned dragon fruits of S. undatus, S. monacanthus and their cultivated hybrids.
They are also typically smooth in texture. Those of Stenocereus gummosus, acidic and very refreshing, are highly favored by the Seris of northwestern Mexico [2] who call the cactus ziix is ccapxl [3] – "thing whose fruit is sour". It is commonly known in Spanish as pitaya agria, or by the English translation sour pitaya.
Bipolaris cactivora is an ascomycete, causing cactus stem rot and pitahaya (dragon fruit) rot. Also known as Drechslera cactivora, this fungus has been reported causing fruit rot on Hylocereus undatus (white-fleshed pitahaya). This specific cactus is both used decoratively as well as commercially in production of pitahaya fruit.
Stenocereus griseus is a tree-shaped cactus that grows to 6-9 meters tall with a clear trunk and upright green stems, about 9-12 centimeters in diameter, with six to ten ribs below the areoles. [2]