| Description | An unusual tropical cactus that forms a vine and leaves. Has escaped to the wild in many areas and become a noxious weed. |
|---|---|
| Pronunciation | (per-ESS-kee-uh) (ah-kew-lee-AY-tuh) |
| Plant Type | All Plants, Cactus |
| Hardiness Zone | 9-11 |
| Sunlight | full |
| Moisture | average, dry, drought tolerant, sensitive to over watering |
| Soil & Site | average, well drained |
| Growing Media | cactus and succulent mix |
| Flowers | white, yellowish or pin, borne in panicles or corymbs |
| Fruit | round or oval, lemon ,orange-yellow or reddish, is edible |
| Leaves | succulent leaves, yellow to bronze green, spines found in pairs on the trunk in the leaf axis |
| Stems | starts as a erect shrub, matures to a clambering, creeping vine |
| Dimensions | can reach over 20 feet |
| Maintenance | cutting back to maintain size |
| Propagation | cuttings, seeds |
| Native Site | There seems to be some confusion over the native site of this plant. It is believed to be indigenous to the West Indies, coastal northern South America and Panama. |
| Misc Facts | The genus is named after Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc, a 16th century French botanist. |
| Author's Notes | I grew this plant for many years and we found the poorer we treated it the foliage became a brighter brighter golden yellow. At the Mitchell Park Domes in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (USA), there as a nice planting of Pereskia clambering over some rocks. This was a good plant to demonstrate the diversity of form that is found in plants. My students found it hard to believe that this vine-like plant was a Cactus. |
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