Indian River Prickly Apple, from Bud to Fruit

This time the flower stuck around instead of falling off early, as did the first one this Spring on the East pasture. It bloomed spectacularly; now if the fruit will just finish ripening already. I think it has taken a month just to turn burgundy and I hope it doesn’t take another month to fully swell into a smooth, bright red ball for seed collection (and final photograph). Not sure if my brush pollination or a large hawk moth did the deed, but we like the results. It will be interesting to learn how many seeds this species has per fruit.

Harrisia Fragrans, the Indian River prickly apple, is an endemic shrubby tree cactus that grows in scrubby sand habitat along a few parts near the Atlantic shores of Central Florida, mostly in St. Lucie and Volusia counties. These cacti can reach 12 feet in height, form arms and also sprawl in arches from the center stem. The virtually identical Simpson’s apple cactus found in the Everglades is regarded by most as Fragrans, though there is some observation that Simpson’s is distinguished by a shorter main needle. I’ll do a side-by-side comparison when mine get larger, but I’m not really seeing a difference so far. Definitely a cactus for understory partial shade and does well here in the more organically rich sand spots, even with Winter cold snaps.

Development has wiped out most of both endemic species of this genus in Florida. I can only imagine from a few black and white or sepia tone photographs how much more exotic and beautiful coastal scrub forest must have been with huge clusters of this great cactus complimenting the saw palmetto, cabbage palm and live oak, as I might have seen on hikes 150 years ago. If it ever naturally occurred in Williston, at least it’s back home and with a few neighbors too.