Ferocactus pilosus

(Galeotti ex Salm-Dyck) Werderm.

Mexican lime cactus

CactaceaeFruitFlowersShoots

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(c) Zona Sujeta a Conservación Ecológica Sierra de Zapalinamé, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Zona Sujeta a Conservación Ecológica Sierra de Zapalinamé

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(c) Manlio Martínez Barona, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

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(c) Ad Konings, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

What to Eat

Edible parts: Fruit, Flowers, Stems

The fruit is eaten raw, the stems are cooked, and the flowers are eaten with sugar.

Where to Find It

It is a tropical plant. It grows on rocky limestone hillsides and dry and open areas.

Asia, Indonesia, Mexico*, North America, SE Asia, USA,

Countries: United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan, Antigua & Barbuda, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Barbados, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Brunei, Bahamas, Bhutan, Belize, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Georgia, Guatemala, Honduras, Haiti, Indonesia, Israel, India, Iraq, Iran, Jamaica, Jordan, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Cambodia, St Kitts & Nevis, North Korea, South Korea, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Laos, Lebanon, St Lucia, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Mongolia, Maldives, Mexico, Malaysia, Nicaragua, Nepal, Oman, Panama, Philippines, Pakistan, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, El Salvador, Syria, Thailand, Tajikistan, Timor-Leste, Turkmenistan, Turkey, Trinidad & Tobago, Taiwan, United States, Uzbekistan, St Vincent, Vietnam, Yemen

How to Identify

A cactus. It can grow singly or occur as a clump. The stems are column shaped and 3 m tall and 50 cm across. There are 13-20 ribs which become more rounded as the plant matures. There are red or yellow spines. These can be 5 cm long. The flowers are in circles around the stem tips. They are 4 cm long and 2.5 cm across. The fruit is oval and yellow and 3.4 cm long.

How to Grow

Plants can be grown from seeds.

Wikipedia

Source ↗

Ferocactus pilosus, also known as Mexican lime cactus (Biznaga De Lima) or Mexican fire barrel, is a species of cactus in North America.

Other Information

It is a cultivated food plant.

Names & Synonyms

Biznaga roja, Kaktus limau meksiko

Echinocactus piliferus Lem. ex Labour.Echinocactus pilosus Galeottii ex Salm-DyckEchinocactus stainesii Hook. ex Salm-DyckFerocactus piliferus (Lem. ex Labour.) G. Ungerand others

References (8)

Astrada, E., et al, 2007, Ethnobotany in the Cumbres de Monterrey National Park, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 3:8
Desert Survivors Online Plant Database (As Ferocactus stainesii var. pringlei)
Estrada-Castillon, E., et al, 2014, Ethnobotany in Rayones, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, 10:62
Hellmuth, N. M., 2013, Maya Ethnobotany. Complete Inventory of plants. Associacion FLAAR Mesoamerica. Thirteenth edition. p 48
Kermath, B. M., et al, 2014, Food Plants in the Americas: A survey of the domesticated, cultivated and wild plants used for Human food in North, Central and South America and the Caribbean. On line draft. p 367
Piedra-Malagón, E. M. et al, 2022, Edible native plants of the Gulf of Mexico Province. Biodiversity Data Journal 10: e80565 p 15
Sukarya, D. G., (Ed.) 2013, 3,500 Plant Species of the Botanic Gardens of Indonesia. LIPI p 1018
World Checklist of Useful Plant Species 2020. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew