Cereus pernambucensis

Lem.

Jumbeba

Cactaceae Edible: Fruit

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Wikimedia Commons - Scott Zona from Miami, Florida, USA

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Wikimedia Commons - Pablo Cauã da Silva Toledo

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Description

A cactus. It can be erect or lean over. It grows 1 m tall and the stems are 15 cm across. There is one central spine and 6 spines around it. These can be 5 cm long. The flowers do not have spines but they have scales. The flowers are white and 25 cm long. The fruit are narrowly oval. They are purplish red When ripe the fruit split open revealing the white pulp. The seeds are black.

Edible Uses

The white pulp of the ripe fruit is edible.

Traditional Uses

The pulp of the fruit is edible.

This uses section is brief — help expand it

Distribution

A tropical plant.

Where It Grows

Brazil*, Paraguay, South America, Uruguay,

Notes

There are 40 Cereus species in South America.

Synonyms

Cereus fernambucensisCereus variabilisPiptanthocereus obtususCereus obtusus

References (3)

Facciola, S., 1998, Cornucopia 2: a Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications, p 63
Kermath, B. M., et al, 2014, Food Plants in the Americas: A survey of the domesticated, cultivated and wild plants used for Human food in North, Central and South America and the Caribbean. On line draft. p 206
Tanaka,