''Selenicereus costaricensis'',

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

''Hylocereus costaricensis'', known as the Costa Rican pitahaya or Costa Rica nightblooming cactus, is a

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 ...

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

native to Central America and north-eastern South America. The species is grown commercially for its fruit, called ''

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'' ( ...

'' or ''pitahaya'', but is also an impressive ornamental

vine A vine (Latin ''vīnea'' "grapevine", "vineyard", from ''vīnum'' "wine") is any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent (that is, climbing) stems, lianas or runners. The word ''vine'' can also refer to such stems or runners themselv ...

with huge flowers. The species may not be distinct from ''

Selenicereus monacanthus ''Selenicereus monacanthus'', Synonym (taxonomy), synonym ''Hylocereus monacanthus'', is a species of plant in the family Cactus, Cactaceae. It is native to parts of Central America and South America (Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Pan ...

''.

Description

*Stem

scandent A vine (Latin ''vīnea'' "grapevine", "vineyard", from ''vīnum'' "wine") is any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent (that is, climbing) stems, lianas or runners. The word ''vine'' can also refer to such stems or runners themselve ...

, 1-3 (-10) cm wide, usually very thick; ribs 3 (-4), margins straight to shallowly scallop-lobed; internodes 2-3.5 x 0.1-0.2 cm; often folded,

areole 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 - W ...

s on prominences, bearing dense, short wool and (1-) 3-6 (-9) short, dark spines 2–4 mm, hairs 2, often bristle-like, soon dropping;

epidermis The epidermis is the outermost of the three layers that comprise the skin, the inner layers being the dermis and hypodermis. The epidermis layer provides a barrier to infection from environmental pathogens and regulates the amount of water rele ...

grayish green, +-

glaucous ''Glaucous'' (, ) is used to describe the pale grey or bluish-green appearance of the surfaces of some plants, as well as in the names of birds, such as the glaucous gull (''Larus hyperboreus''), glaucous-winged gull (''Larus glaucescens''), g ...

in fresh material. *Flowers funnel-shaped, 22–30 cm long, strongly perfumed, young buds globular; cylindric-ovoid, ca 4 cm long,

bracteole In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of ...

s narrow, foliaceous, numerous,

imbricate Aestivation or estivation is the positional arrangement of the parts of a flower within a flower bud before it has opened. Aestivation is also sometimes referred to as praefoliation or prefoliation, but these terms may also mean vernation: the ar ...

, 1–2 cm long; receptacle stout, 10–15 cm, throat

obconic In botany, an obconic is an inverted cone shape. The term is most frequently applied to certain fruit or hypanthium structures with the apical end attached to the stem; however, less frequently the usage may apply to the pistil structure. In the ca ...

, 6 cm in wide at the orifice, bracteoles foliaceous, persistent, particularly imbricating towards the base, green with purple margins;

tepal 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 very ...

s 11–15 cm, the outer greenish yellow, the inner white;

stigma lobe Stigma or plural stigmata, stigmas may refer to: * Social stigma, the disapproval of a person based on physical or behavioral characteristics that distinguish them from others Symbolism * Stigmata, bodily marks or wounds resembling the crucifi ...

s ca. 12, not forked;

ovary The ovary is an organ in the female reproductive system that produces an ovum. When released, this travels down the fallopian tube into the uterus, where it may become fertilized by a sperm. There is an ovary () found on each side of the body. ...

covered with large, broadly to narrowly triangular, overlapping bracteoles, 0.5–3 cm. *Fruit broadly

ovate Ovate may refer to: *Ovate (egg-shaped) leaves, tepals, or other botanical parts *Ovate, a type of prehistoric stone hand axe *Ovates, one of three ranks of membership in the Welsh Gorsedd *Vates In modern English, the nouns vates () and ovat ...

globose A sphere () is a geometrical object that is a three-dimensional analogue to a two-dimensional circle. A sphere is the set of points that are all at the same distance from a given point in three-dimensional space.. That given point is the ce ...

, bright magenta, pupla purple; seeds pear-shaped, black, ca 10mm. Pitaya_Fruit

Taxonomy

Both the identity and the nomenclature of the species have been problematic. The name ''Cereus trigonus'' var. ''costaricensis'' was first published by Frédéric Weber in 1902. The epithet ''costaricensis'' refers to

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

, where it is native. 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." It was said to be highly sought after in Costa Rica for its fruit, known as ''pitahaya''. Weber mentioned a photograph of the plant, but as of 2017 this had not been located, so the name lacked a type. In 1909, Britton and Rose transferred the plant to the genus ''Hylocereus'' and raised it to a full species as ''Hylocereus costaricensis''. A

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

study in 2017 confirmed earlier research showing that the genus ''Hylocereus'' was nested within ''Selenicereus'', so all the species of ''Hylocereus'' were transferred to ''Selenicereus'', with this species becoming ''Selenicereus costaricensis''. However, in the absence of a type, the names remained problematic. In 2021, a

lectotype In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes the ...

was designated, and the name was accepted by the

International Plant Names Index The International Plant Names Index (IPNI) describes itself as "a database of the names and associated basic bibliographical details of seed plants, ferns and lycophytes." Coverage of plant names is best at the rank of species and genus. It inclu ...

and

Plants of the World Online Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. It was launched in March 2017 with the ultimate aim being "to enable users to access information on all the world's known seed-bearing plants by ...

. The species has been described as "poorly understood". The name ''Hylocereus costaricensis'' has been treated as synonymous with ''Hylocereus polyrhizus''; however, ''H. polyrhizus'' is regarded by other sources as a synonym of ''

''. The relationship between ''S. costaricensis'' and ''S. monacanthus'', and in particular whether they are separate species, requires further study.

Distribution and habitat

The species is native from Nicaragua to northern Peru, although its natural range is hard to determine because it has been cultivated so widely. It occurs in dry or deciduous coastal forests, at elevations of

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...

Cultivation

An easily cultivated, fast growing

epiphyte An epiphyte is an organism that grows on the surface of a plant and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water (in marine environments) or from debris accumulating around it. The plants on which epiphytes grow are called phoroph ...

xerophyte A xerophyte (from Ancient Greek language, Greek ξηρός ''xeros'' 'dry' + φυτόν ''phuton'' 'plant') is a species of plant that has adaptations to survive in an environment with little liquid water, such as a desert such as the Sahara or pl ...

. Needs a compost containing plenty of humus and sufficient moisture in summer. It should not be kept under 10 °C (50 °F) in winter. Can be grown in semi-shade or full sun. Extra light in the early spring will stimulate budding. Flowers in summer or autumn.

References

External links