Plant · P-484

Dragon Fruit

Hylocereus undatus

Dragon Fruit is a climbing epiphytic cactus from Mexico and Central America, grown for the sweet, mild, white-fleshed fruit sold as pitaya, plus a food-forest role as a hedge and living trellis climber. Its flowers open for one night only and are night-pollinated, so away from its native pollinators hand pollination after dark is usually the reliable way to get fruit. Winter cold is the hard limit - a freeze kills the whole plant outright with no crown left to resprout from - so anywhere winters freeze it only works in a large tub on a post, moved under cover for winter and set back out in full sun through the warm months.