Talk:Pitaya/Archive 1

Grams?
We in America use ounces and pounds so saying how much the thing weighs in grams means nothing to us. I suggest putting both measurements in so you Euros and we Americans know how much the stupid thing weighs. Fair enough?--24.177.88.53 (talk) 21:26, 11 December 2011 (UTC)


 * While possibly true in the Forties, a great many if not the majority of Americans have been taught scientific measurements in high schools/colleges and are very familiar with units of measurement like 'grams.' HammerFilmFan (talk) 05:54, 5 June 2012 (UTC)

comment on appearance
Perhaps it's just the lighting, but this thing has to be not only the most nauseatingly ugly fruit in the world, but the most nauseatingly ugly object of any kind.-Ashley Pomeroy 17:11, 23 May 2005 (UTC)

It may be ugly to look at, but I had some dragonfruit juice given to me before I saw the thing. The juice is sweet even my kids loved it. I don't know if I'll ever find any more though as what was given to us came from a source that we wouldn't normally have. It was a nice treat. ^-^ I dunno. I kinda agree that it's pretty ugly. This is my first time seeing it, though I've had dragonfruit juice on many occasions. I mean, I'm still going to drink it, but I'm glad I don't have to look at the fruits whole. To the person who didn't know where they'd ever get the juice again: it's in fairly common production in the US - SoBe, Vitamin Water, and Naked Juice (the only wholly natural one of the three) all market dragonfruit beverages, and I'm sure there are others. If anyone has a broader scope of dragonfruit juice distribution, they should add it to the article. -VJ 00:33, 21 December 2005 (UTC)
 * Some people do consider it to be a beautiful ornamental fruit. I've seen gardeners planting it in Taiwan for the fun of it.  There are also websites created by enthusiasts in the United States who want to teach people how to plant it in the non-frost regions of the United States. Allentchang 16:46, 1 October 2005 (UTC)
 * What's so ugly about it? I just saw them in a market and bought some on the strength of their appearance alone. Beautiful scarlet-pink skin with vibrant green leaves. Compared to the kiwi, for exaple, this fruit is a visual treat.
 * Depends on how its served: The first time I ever saw or ate one was at a buffet in Xian,;it was cut to include just a bit of the pinkish/reddish rind so the look isn't as ugly --only bizarre (especially if you've never seen a pink, white, polka-dot fruit before. I thought it was candy at first. Bobak 23:27, 18 January 2006 (UTC)
 * Now that I understand how to upload photos, I added my CC photo. I also created a Gallery at the bottom since the article was already cluttered by the photos. Bobak 20:12, 4 February 2006 (UTC)

Ugly!? This has to be the most exotically beautiful fruit that I've ever seen! I haven't yet had the pleasure of tasting dragon fruit, but if I were ever given the opportunity to taste some for myself, I'd jump at the chance. The red-fleshed variety isn't so aesthetically appealling, I admit, but I think the red-skinned pitaya is just gorgeous.--Teebs101 04:10, 10 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Is it really a concern of Wikipedia if something is ugly? I think that's a personal view that really doesn't need to be in Wikipedia. DKFlamez 18:57, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

Currently I am in baja california, and the fruit that the locals are calling a pitaya does not look like the ones pictured here. It doesn't have the green leaves, and is covered in spines. It is like a spiky ball. Mrmola (talk) 22:29, 11 October 2017 (UTC)

name dragon-fruit
To truly understand why it is called dragon-fruit you gotta see the tree. There should be an image of it here.Ortho 03:37, 19 January 2006 (UTC)

How odd that so much discussion is on how "ugly" the fruit is. Different from what there used to is more likely. My guess is that many of the responders would only buy shiny, red, waxed and perfectly formed, and perhaps flavorless, red delicious apples.--Patrizia

Many shops in bangkok sell Vietnamese dragon fruit ( red shell and white flesh ) and it looks a bit odd. The leaves cut off and the fruit cut in half and your into the flesh which is pleasant and watery. I would think it would lend itself to a fruit mix ( say with bananas or strawberries ). It is said to be a good antioxidant but i would like to know what minerals and vitamins it contains.

Taxo-box
Moved from the rather uninformative Hylocereus undatus, now redirected. Not sure what to do with it as it only refers to one variety. Tearlach 09:35, 21 January 2006 (UTC)

Unofficial comments on how to raise pitaya plants
I wrote this in someone else's talk page and decided to include it here for everyone's benefit.

The bonsai picture was taken a few weeks ago. The bottom plant was bought in a nursey around August. The top left plant was planted at about the same time. Since that was my first time to plant the pitaya seeds, the top left plant turned out to be a little unruly. The top right plant was purchased about two weeks before I took the picture. If you look carefully, you might see one or two pitaya seed shells on the top right plant! Some of my friends almost thought I was raising catepillars when they saw the tiny branches.

I beleive it is possible to grow a pitaya bonsai indoors in Long Island. What you need is plenty of light (a dedicated lamp should suffice). During the winter when your radiator or heating system is on resulting in low indoor humidity, you might want to water the plants every other day. Otherwise, water the plants once every three to four days. As long as you don't let your room to be at freezing temperatures, the pitaya should do fine.

My impression is that the size of plants is partially restrained by the size of their pot, so I suspect that my pitaya bonsai will remain a bonsai. As for the small leaves, they should eventually disappear, although you probably have noticed from the picture that they have not for the past seven to eight months.

Here's my personal experience with the regular size dragonfruit plant. If you cut off a branch of a large pitaya plant, plant it in a large pot, place the pot in a region with moderate sunlight, and use plenty of organic fertilizer such as chicken poo, in two years the plant would have covered the entire wall/barrier of an apartment porch. Also in two years the pitaya will probably bear fruit. The pitaya is a very organic plant in the sense that no pesticides are needed and environemental friendly fertilizer can be used.

I would think that California would be an okay environment to grow pitaya. I'm just extremeley surprised that this fruit hasn't become popular in the United States whereas in Asia, it's a massive hit. Many Asians actually believe that this native Latin American fruit originated from Vietnam. The first time I saw this fruit was when the trade embargo between Taiwan and Vietnam was lifted.

In the United States, I saw the fruit once at Berkeley Bowl (a large produce store) in Berkeley, CA. One can order them from www.melissas.com, but they charge three pieces for a highway robbery price of US$48.00, shipping not included. In Taiwan, the standard price is US$1 for one white fleshed fruit and about US$6 for an extermely high quality (gift-like) fruit. Allentchang 13:11, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

How Long?
How long does it take seedlings to bear? Are they true to seed? How about cuttings?
 * They can be true to seed, but you should use cuttings if you want fruits within two years or so. I'm not a farmer, but this is based on my three and a half years experience growing the plant. Allentchang 13:50, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Taste?
Having recently eaten a fruit that had this pink appearance (Hylocereus undatus) I found that while the texture was virtually identical to kiwifruit, the taste was quite different. I found that what I ate was fairly bland while every kiwifruit I've eaten was tangy and very sweet. Has anyone else sampled one of the other varieties and found that the taste was indeed similar to kiwifruit? 15:58, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

It does indeed have a kiwi-like texture however a very bland almost non-existant taste. 21:57, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

Yeah.. it has the texture of a kiwi and no taste. 74.104.224.144 23:27, 25 April 2007 (UTC)


 * I ate one with white flesh and pink skin. The flesh tasted like a kiwi, but much milder, while the peel tasted like green beans. -- Gordon Ecker 06:49, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

-- how do you know when it's ripe or ready to eat? slightly soft? exude a ripening odor? maybe the bland tasting ones were of unripened specimens. i have one on my kitchen table right now... not sure when to cut it up. dave 71.63.240.138 (talk) 00:50, 26 November 2007 (UTC)
 * My Red skinned, white fleshed dragonfruit tastes like a very mild kiwi. Sweet, but otherwise not distinctive. Pleasant, and good for cleansing the pallet after the pasta dish I just ate with about a ton of black pepper in it. ;)
 * I opened mine when it was slightly soft, but the leavy-bits on the fruit were still plump. If you've cared for succulent plants before, the overall impression was of one that wanted watering, but wasn't quite ready to wilt yet. Overall I get the impression this is probably pushing the line to overripe, but not too much.
 * I've seen them in the grocery store looking very sadly wilted, brown edged leafy things, and generally miserable appearing, I wasn't brave enough to risk buying them in that condition. Syndaryl (talk)

-- Darn, this is making me hungry. Do they usually sell them at grocery stores? I never bothered to look. Mumbles (talk) 01:27, 28 May 2008 (UTC)
 * My grocery store (in Canada) has a very small section (2 feet of racks) in the produce section for exotic fruit. The fruit available changes, probably based on seasonal availability and whatever their distributor can get them a good price on this week. I don't see Dragonfruit very often, mostly in late winter or early spring. Your local availability may depend on how determined your grocery is to carry it. I'd try in a grocery store catering to Asian immigrants if you can't find it in a regular supermarket or a fruit/veg specialist - from the general discussion here, that might be a good bet. Syndaryl (talk)

Nutrition Discussion
The following section is in the article: Dragonfruit is rich in fiber, Vitamin C and minerals. The typical nutritional value per 100g of dragonfruit is as follows:


 * Ashes 0.68g
 * Fat 0.61g
 * Fiber 0.9g
 * Phosphorus 36.1mg
 * Carotene 0.012g
 * Protein 0.229g
 * Water 83.0g
 * Calcium 8.8g
 * Iron 0.65mg
 * Riboflavin 0.045mg
 * Niacin 0.430mg
 * Ascorbic Acid 9.0mg

Ashes? Since when are ashes an aspect of nutrition? Also, the components given only add up to 94.277 grams. This might be a translation issue.
 * It seems to come from here... "Ashes" = Other. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.109.48.18 (talk) 01:09, 9 September 2007 (UTC)


 * "Ashes" means indeterminate inorganic content. See calorimetry - you get such leftovers when you determine the nutritional value. It's basically "0.68% of this fruit your body can't really use one way or another." Dysmorodrepanis (talk) 00:22, 20 March 2008 (UTC)

This website has informations about this; i just don't know how to put the citation. http://www.angelfire.com/ia2/ingenieriaagricola/pitaya.htm —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.122.124.54 (talk) 16:28, 2 March 2008 (UTC)


 * I have added the information and given ranges, because there are some differences between the species (which I have also annotated). Note how I changed the references - check out the source, it is much more compact now. There is really no need to do references in the one way that puts the most code in the running text and is hardest to understand, especially not in an article like this where new users will frequently want to edit... :D Dysmorodrepanis (talk) 00:22, 20 March 2008 (UTC)

I see another problem. Now the article says it's rich in calcium and posphorus. How can 10mg be considered rich when you need almost 1000mg of calcium per day? I won't even bother correcting the article cause someone will change it back like it always happens. Wikipedia is a bad source of knowledge. It's bad! Really, really bad! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.63.21.66 (talk) 16:51, 17 December 2009 (UTC)

The table shows nutritional information for dried fruit which is why it is so high in sugar. I don't know what the right answer is, but it's not what's there now. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Turnermt6 (talk • contribs) 05:53, 9 March 2018 (UTC)


 * The seeds might contain lipids, but from experience, the seeds appear to pass through my digestive system unchanged, and thus not available or absorbed by me. In fact, much of the fruit seems to pass out undigested. 86.145.35.132 (talk) 13:55, 26 November 2019 (UTC)

Low importance?!
People throughout Southeast Asia and East Asia eat this fruit even though it originated from North America! Asians are so used to this fruit that it would not be too surprising that many Asians think that this fruit originated from some part of Asia. I do hope no US-centrism was used to rate the importance of this article. Allentchang 14:47, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

I had some on a flight from Samui to Bangkok, polka dot freakiness but tasty. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.70.246.228 (talk) 08:40, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

"Pitayas in Israel" Picture
The "pitayas" shown in this picture look more like apple cactus plants, not Hylocereus of any kind. Should this be moved? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.218.27.155 (talk) 22:06, 30 October 2009 (UTC)

I agree with the above comment. The one picture is of a cactus plant. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.97.116.159 (talk) 15:45, 23 March 2010 (UTC)

fertilization or pollination?
These phrases: - They rely on nocturnal creatures such as bats or moths for fertilization by other pitaya. Self-fertilization will not produce fruit. - don't make sense unless "fertilization" is substituted with "pollination". Perhaps the article was written by a non-native or a person without biological education. Pollen or fertilizer? If fertilizer then how is it connected to " by other pitaya" (pitay_s_). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 118.144.203.79 (talk) 03:26, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

File:Pitaya cross section ed2.jpg to appear as POTD soon
Hello! This is a note to let the editors of this article know that File:Pitaya cross section ed2.jpg will be appearing as picture of the day on June 5, 2012. You can view and edit the POTD blurb at Template:POTD/2012-06-05. If this article needs any attention or maintenance, it would be preferable if that could be done before its appearance on the Main Page so Wikipedia doesn't look bad. :) Thanks! — howcheng  {chat} 06:55, 4 June 2012 (UTC)

any CERTIFIED studies done on the true health-benefits?
A few of the sources are borderline holistic, or are from what would be considered doctors that are on the 'outside' of the mainstream. While there is no doubting the nutritional benefits of this fruit, if anyone has seen what would be considered a Reliable Source for any benefits against diseases such as cancer, they should be added. A few quick searches that I performed did not turn up anything along these lines. Perhaps no university or research institute has performed one? I don't lend much credence to "talk show" guest doctors whose research has not been verified or taken seriously by the medical community. HammerFilmFan (talk) 06:05, 5 June 2012 (UTC)
 * I took a look at some of the health claims and you are right--for some of the claims the sources that were cited didn't even mention anything of the sort. I have removed a couple of the sources that provided nothing of value, and replaced them with  templates.  I will continue to look for suitable sources.   -  down  load  ׀  talk  02:16, 9 June 2012 (UTC)

My GF stated that the taste was like a sweeter version of Cum, and she got horny from eating one. any possible reason why? Kingemocut (talk) 20:12, 23 June 2013 (UTC)

Etymology of "Pitahaya"?
Does anyone know where the name stem from (probably nahuatl?) and what it means? Thanks in advance for adding the info. Hippo99 (talk) 07:14, 12 April 2013 (UTC)

Short life?
I'm not one to believe every ad-copy I read, but on the side of a carton of Dragon Fruit Mango juice from Welches, they claim that the fruit is incredibly rare because it only lasts for one day and is only harvested 6 times a year. The latter claim is corroborated in the article, but I'm not so sure about the first. My guess is they were playing it up to make it seem more special ("almost as rare as actual dragons" they claim. Yeah, right), as it actually seems to be quite common in some places. Can anyone confirm/refute this claim? Because it seems like a load of bull... Lurlock (talk) 02:09, 19 December 2013 (UTC)

Geography and Chinese term in weak source
I removed this statement and source as not being a "geographic" discussion and the source is basically spam. "In Asian markets it is sold as Huǒ lóng guǒ" with this ref. 1) the statement does not fit in a discussion of pitaya geographic distribution; 2) the source uses the term, huǒ lóng guǒ, with no evidence of that term being used historically; to my knowledge, pitaya has never been referred to by that term; 3) The source states: "Rich in antioxidants, the benefits attributed to dragon fruit include acting as a cancer preventative, preventing memory loss, reducing blood glucose levels, lowering blood pressure, and preventing the formation of carcinogenic free-radicals (I say lock up the radicals). It is also packed with vitamin C." This is all spam baloney. It is not rich or packed with anything but carbohydrates (see the article nutrition table). The benefits listed are just hype, fabrications, and nonsense. There is no evidence for any benefits. The content and source are unusable. --Zefr (talk) 00:14, 29 September 2017 (UTC)


 * The reference is being used to support the term "Huǒ lóng guǒ". I restored it, the reference is not blacklisted and is aggregated at Google News, so Google News thinks it is reliable, if you think is unreliable you need to take it to the Reliable Source Noticeboard and have the site blacklisted as unreliable, hundreds of sites are already blacklisted as unreliable. The New York Times is a reliable source and uses terms like "rich in antioxidants" and also "packed with vitamin C". Note also that the article states "the benefits attributed to dragon fruit include" (my emphasis added), which is correct. I will abide by the consensus at the Reliable Source Noticeboard, no need to just revert. --Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ) (talk) 00:18, 29 September 2017 (UTC)

Incorrect nutrition
Nutrition data are completely false. It is impossible, that this fruit contains 83g of sugar. Max sugar that can be in fruit is about 15 g (for Lychees). According to this link https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/537279/nutrients, it has about 12.94 g of carbohydrates. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.12.66.76 (talk) 19:40, 28 October 2019 (UTC)
 * As of November 2019, there remain no reliable sources for the nutrient content of raw pitaya. The USDA has not independently analyzed this fruit, as there are for most nutrition sections on fruits in Wikipedia, such as for an apple. In its newly named database (called FoodData Central, as of April 2019), the USDA reports the label information from one manufacturer of a dragon fruit product, but this information has not been confirmed and may not be accurate. Personally, I feel the nutrition information shown in the pitaya article is unreliable, but it's all we have. The alternate would be to delete the section entirely. --Zefr (talk) 16:02, 26 November 2019 (UTC)
 * This data is for raw pitaya. Granted, it's still branded, but better than what's there now. --Kstern (talk) 18:56, 24 November 2020 (UTC)

The data are for dried fruit. This is not explicitly stated on the USDA website, but the ingredients also list Sulfur Dioxide which is a preservative very frequently used for dried fruits and would not make sense to use on fresh fruit. I've added that into the article Wasp32 (talk) 08:23, 6 October 2020 (UTC)

Dragonfruit, & Prickly Pear Are Completely Unrelated
You're page is about the prickly pear that's on cacti in North America, but the dragonfruit is a Vietnamese tree fruit. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 97.124.78.115 (talk) 22:55, 25 November 2018 (UTC)
 * Although it is commonly grown in Vietnam this is native to the Americas. Invasive Spices (talk) 26 September 2022 (UTC)

New official name for Gujarat, India
The Government of Gujarat in India has officially renamed the fruit as Kamalam. The word "Kamalam" is Sanskrit for the lotus flower. The fruit does hold some resemblance to a lotus bud.A redirect page was thus created to recognize the new official name.JNoXK (talk) 05:22, 22 January 2021 (UTC)
 * That renaming was a political stunt, and it is far too early to tell if "kamalam" will be used in other than Gujarat government documents to refer to pitaya. If there is enough coverage in reliable sources, then sometime in the future WikiPedia might have an article named "Kamalam" similar to Freedom fries. But, as I said, it is too soon. - Donald Albury 13:23, 22 January 2021 (UTC)

== Pitaya does not look like the Pitahaya pictures shown of Dragon Fruit. Pitaya grows straight, up to 30 feet and is often called Mexican Dragon Fruit. It sells for much more, at present 3/$10 in the USA. ==

Pitaya is being confused here with Pitahaya. 45.225.91.31 (talk) 19:50, 7 January 2023 (UTC)


 * The article treats "pitaya" as a general term for different kinds of Selenicereus fruit. "Mexican dragon fruit" is just one kind. Peter coxhead (talk) 12:21, 10 January 2023 (UTC)