| General Information |
| Distribution | Native range unknown, although most likely Mexico, cultivated since ancient times, and now widely escaped and naturalized in warm parts of the world.In the Hawaiian Islands,
naturalized on
Kaua`i, O`ahu, Moloka`i, Lana`i, Maui, Kaho`olawe, Hawai`i.
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Habit
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Trees 3-5 m tall, with a definite trunk; joints dull green or gray when fresh, broadly obovate, 25-60 cm long, 20-40 cm wide, margins more or less entire.
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Leaves
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Areoles spineless or with 1-6 white or yellowish spines 1-3 cm long.
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Flowers
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Flowers 6-7 cm long, 5-7 cm in diameter; outer perianth parts yellow with a green or reddish median stripe, 10-20 mm long, 15-20 mm wide, inner perianth parts yellow to orangish yellow, rotate, 25-30 long, 15-20 mm wide; staminal filaments yellow; style greenish, ca. 15 mm long; stigma lobes 8-10.
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Fruit
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Berries greenish white to yellow, yellowish brown, or reddish purple, depending on the strain, fleshy, barrel-shaped, 5-10 cm long, 4-9 cm in diameter.
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Chromosomes
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2n = 22, 33, 44, 66, 88
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