Ferocactus

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Ferocactus
Ferocactus glaucescens Prg1.jpg
Ferocactus glaucescens
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
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Genus:
Ferocactus

Species

See text.

Synonyms

Bisnaga Orcutt
Brittonia C.A.Armstr.[1]

Ferocactus is a genus of barrel cactus, all native to the southwestern US and northwestern Mexico. All have similar fruit so they are currently lumped together here.

In the "Arizona Garden" on Stanford university campus, a few Ferocactus plants were found bearing yellow fruit. The fruit were easy to handle, having no spines or glochids on them (unlike, for example, prickly pear). The fruit looked pretty much exactly like a small yellow pitaya, having white flesh studded with many black seeds under the yellow rind layer. The flavor was much more sour than dragonfruit, but other than the acidity (which was similar to that of a lemon), the taste and texture were pleasant. Could make a good flavoring for drinks or deserts.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 "Genus: Ferocactus Britton & Rose". Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. 2004-02-13. Retrieved 2010-11-14.

Acknowledgements

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Ferocactus, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.