The Peruvian apple cactusCereus repandusL., is a large erect, thorny columnar cactus found in South America.
Often with a tree_like appearance, its cylindrical gray_green stems can reach 10 meters (33 ft), and 10_20 cm in diameter each. The nocturnal flowers remain open for one night. The fruits are thornless and vary in skin color from violet_red to yellow. The flesh, which is the edible part of the fruit, is white and contains small, edible, and crunchy seeds.
Other names include cadushi, giant club cactus, and hedge cactus.
It is an unexplored, underutilized cactus, grown only as an ornamental plant, even though it produces attractive, edible fruits, which are known as pitaya in Latin America.
Fruits of a number of other columnar cacti, also belonging to the subfamily Cactoideae, tribe Cereeae, are known to be of economic significance for native use in South America.
Reference
Edward F. Anderson, The Cactus Family (Timber Press, 2001), pp. 148-149
It is also known as a cadushi, giant club cactus, or hedge cactus.
With an often tree-like appearance, the Peruvian applecactus' cylindrical gray-green stems can reach 10 meters (33 ft) in height and 10-20 cm in diameter.
Fruits of a number of other columnar cacti, also belonging to the subfamily Cactoideae, tribe Cereeae, are known to be of economic significance for native use in South America.
In Europe columnar cactus fruit was accepted quite well but supermarket chains required 300 tonnes/year, while the quantities produced in Israel in 2001 were only 70 tonnes.
On the other hand it is quite clear that apples and citrus fruits will struggle to withstand the changing economic and climatic conditions (Vietmeyer 1990).
Nerd, A., Raveh, E. and Mizrahi, Y. Adaptation of five columnar cactus species to various conditions in the Negev Desert of Israel.
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