''Harrisia portoricensis'' is a species of

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 Gree ...

in the genus '' Harrisia''.''Harrisia''
/ref> Its common names include ''higo chumbo'' and Puerto Rico applecactus.

Distribution

It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

, where it is known from three smaller islands off the coast of the main island.USFWS
Higo Chumbo Five-year Review.
January 2010. The population is estimated at 59,000 on

Mona Island Mona ( es, Isla de Mona) is the third-largest island of the Puerto Rican archipelago, after the main island of Puerto Rico and Vieques. It is the largest of three islands in the Mona Passage, a strait between the Dominican Republic and Puerto R ...

, 148 individuals on

Monito Island Monito Island (English: ''Little Mona'', es, Islote Monito) is an uninhabited island about northwest of the much larger Mona Island. ''Monito'' is the masculine diminutive form of ''Mona'' in Spanish, which also translates to ''little monkey ...

, and only 9 on

Desecheo Island Desecheo ( es, Isla Desecheo) () is a small uninhabited island of the archipelago of Puerto Rico located in the northeast of the Mona Passage; from Rincón on the west coast ( Punta Higüero) of the main island of Puerto Rico and northeast ...

. File:Harrisia portoricensis.jpg, Scene of higo chumbo cactus with water in background File:Higo Chumbo fruit (5840524148).jpg, Higo chumbo on Mona Island

References

portoricensis Cacti of North America Endemic flora of Puerto Rico Endangered flora of North America Endangered flora of the United States Plants described in 1908 {{cactus-stub