''Cereus repandus'' (syn. ''Cereus peruvianus''), the Peruvian apple cactus, is a large, erect, thorny columnar

cactus A cactus (, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1750 known species of the order Caryophyllales. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Greek ...

found in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

. It is also known as giant club cactus, hedge cactus, ''cadushi'' (in

Papiamento Papiamento () or Papiamentu (; nl, Papiaments) is a Portuguese-based creole language spoken in the Dutch Caribbean. It is the most widely spoken language on the Caribbean ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao), with official status in Arub ...

and

Wayuunaiki Wayuu ( guc, Wayuunaiki ), or Guajiro, is a major Arawakan language spoken by 305,000 indigenous Wayuu people in northwestern Venezuela and northeastern Colombia on the Guajira Peninsula. There are 200,000 speakers of Wayuu in Venezuela and 1 ...

Villalobos ''et al.'' (2007)), and ''kayush''. ''Cereus repandus'' is grown mostly as an ornamental plant, but has some local culinary importance. The

Wayuu The Wayuu (also Wayu, Wayúu, Guajiro, Wahiro) are an Amerindian ethnic group of the Guajira Peninsula in northernmost part of Colombia and northwest Venezuela. The Wayuu language is part of the Maipuran (Arawak) language family. Geography ...

from the La Guajira Peninsula of

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

and

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

also use the inner cane-like wood of the plant in

wattle and daub Wattle and daub is a composite building method used for making walls and buildings, in which a woven lattice of wooden strips called wattle is daubed with a sticky material usually made of some combination of wet soil, clay, sand, animal dung a ...

construction.

Description

With an often tree-like appearance, its cylindrical gray-green to blue stems can reach in height and 10–20 cm in diameter as a self-supporting plant. However, if supported by a scaffold, ''C. repandus'' has grown to a height of at the SDM College of Dental Sciences at Dharwad,

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, technically making this the tallest cactus plant in the world, although no cactus under natural conditions exceeds in height in the case of ''Cereus stenogonus''. There are nine to ten rounded ribs that are up to 1 centimeter high. The small areoles on it are far apart. The gray, needle-like thorns are very variable. They are often numerous, but can also be missing entirely. The longest thorns are up to 5 centimeters long. The large, cream-colored, nocturnal

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

s remain open for only one night and are of vital importance to pollinating bats. The

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

s, known locally as

pitaya A pitaya () or pitahaya () is the fruit of several different cactus species indigenous to the Americas. Pitaya usually refers to fruit of the genus ''Stenocereus'', while pitahaya or dragon fruit refers to fruit of the genus ''Selenicereus'' ( ...

, ''olala'' (only in some parts of

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) 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. As the cactus grows in arid regions and fruits in the dry seasons, the fruit is an essential source of food for birds in its native range. Edward F. Anderson: The Great Cactus Encyclopedia . Eugen Ulmer KG, Stuttgart 2005, , pp. 110-111 .

Images

File:042cperuvianus.jpg, Small cuttings of ''Cereus repandus'' File:033cperuvianus.jpg, ''Cereus repandus'' seedling progression File:037cperuvianus.jpg, ''Cereus repandus'' cutting File:044cperuvianus-monstrose.JPG, ''Cereus repandus'' var. ''monstrose'' large and dwarf varieties File:Pitaya in Israel.jpg, ''Cereus repandus'' (

Pitaya A pitaya () or pitahaya () is the fruit of several different cactus species indigenous to the Americas. Pitaya usually refers to fruit of the genus ''Stenocereus'', while pitahaya or dragon fruit refers to fruit of the genus ''Selenicereus'' ( ...

) plants in

Sde Nitzan Sde Nitzan ( he, שְׂדֵה נִצָּן, ''lit.'' Field of (Flower) Buds) is a moshav in the northern Negev desert in Israel. Located twelve kilometres east of Kerem Shalom and near Beersheba, it falls under the jurisdiction of Eshkol Regiona ...

(

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

) File:Cereus Peruvianus Fruit.jpg, Cereus Peruvianus Fruit

Footnotes

References

* Anderson, Edward F. (2001): ''The Cactus Family'': 148–149. Timber Press. * Villalobos, Soraya; Vargas, Orlando & Melo, Sandra (2007): Uso, manejo y conservacion de ''"yosú",

Stenocereus griseus ''Stenocereus griseus'', also known as the Mexican organ pipe, dagger cactus, pitaya, and pitayo de mayo, is a species of cactus. Description This tree-like cactus can grow up to 9 m tall, with stems up to 12 cm in diameter. Depending on t ...

'' (Cactaceae) en la Alta Guajira colombiana sage, Management and Conservation of ''yosú, Stenocereus griseus'' (Cactaceae), in the Upper Guajira, Colombia panish with English abstract''Acta Biológica Colombiana'' 12(1): 99–112
PDF fulltext
{{Taxonbar, from=Q310887 repandus Tropical agriculture Desert fruits Drought-tolerant plants Taxa named by Philip Miller

Description

Images

See also

Footnotes

References