Hylocereus

Morphological Summary

Hylocereus is a genus of climbing and epiphytic cacti from tropical and subtropical America, world-renowned for producing pitahaya or dragon fruit (H. undatus), one of the fastest-expanding tropical fruit crops of the 21st century. Their stems are generally triangular or 3–4-winged and climb via aerial roots on trees, rocks, or artificial structures. Flowers are enormous (15–30 cm), white, nocturnal, and very fragrant; they open at dusk and wither by dawn, pollinated primarily by bats and nocturnal moths. Fruits are large berries with scaly skin and white, red, or yellow flesh. Korotkova et al.'s (2017) taxonomic revision synonymized Hylocereus within Selenicereus, although Hylocereus remains widely used in agronomy and horticulture.