Barbados gooseberry
Pereskia aculeata Mill.
- light
- Sun–part
- water
- Medium
- tall
- 2.3 m
- wide
- —
Cactaceae
Also called Blade Apple, Cape Gooseberry, Leafy Cactus, Lemon Vine, Pereskia
Formerly Cactus lucidus, Cactus pereskia, Pereskia acardia, Pereskia brasiliensis, and 6 more
When it flowers
Flowers February to May and July to November in the tropics.
Read from iNaturalist photographs of it in flower. A month counts at 50% of the best month's flowering share (smoothed over three months) and 10% of its flowering count, from at least 100 flowering observations in the band.
If a child, a pet or anyone may have eaten a plant, contact a doctor or vet straight away, or call the National Poisons Information Centre (AIIMS, New Delhi) on 1800 116 117, free and open 24 hours.
Something wrong with it?About it
- Grows as
- Scrambling treeKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Climate
- Seasonally dry tropicalKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Wild in
- Panama to S. Trop. AmericaKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Light
- Full sun to part shade (3 h or more)Read from TopTropicals, one source
- Height
- 1.5 m to 3.0 mRead from TopTropicals, one source
- Water
- Average: moist, well drainedRead from TopTropicals, one source
- Flowers
- White, creamRead from TopTropicals and Wikipedia, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources. Sources differ: TopTropicals cream, white; Wikipedia cream, pink, white
- Coldest it survives
- -6.7 °C (USDA zone 9a)Read from TopTropicals, one source
Not known yet: spread, heat, hottest it survives.
Grow it with
Suggested by a rule, not by a gardener: same climate (kew), flowering when this plant does not (inaturalist), and a different shape.
AcerolaFlowers June and December to January, when this does not
Apple-of-PeruFlowers June and December to January, when this does not
Arabian jasmineFlowers June and December to January, when this does not
Barbados lilyFlowers June and December to January, when this does not
Billygoat weedFlowers June and December to January, when this does not
Black-eyed Susan vineFlowers June and December to January, when this does not
In other languages (12)
- Spanish
- Cacto rosa, Grosellero Americano, Camelia blanca
- Portuguese
- ora-pro-nóbis, Guaiapá, Groselha-de-barbados
- Swedish
- trädkaktus
- Japanese
- モクキリン
- Chinese (China)
- 木麒麟
- Chinese
- 木麒麟, 叶仙人掌
- Afrikaans
- Pereskia, Barbadosstekelbossie, Barbados stekelbessie
- root
- ufenisi
- Russian
- Переския шиповатая
- Polish
- drzewidło kolczaste
- Finnish
- karibianpuukaktus
- Lithuanian
- Dygliuotoji pereskija
Where this comes from
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC0-1.0 (observation counts)
- Wikidata, read 2026-10-25, CC0-1.0
- Kew's checklist, read 2026-10-24, CC-BY-4.0
- TopTropicals, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- Wikipedia, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- Wikimedia Commons, read 2026-10-25, CC BY 2.0
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY-SA
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- 3D model: Pereskia aculeata (built for Vanagrha) by Vanagrha, own
A fact “checked by a majority of its sources” was settled by a vote of the pages it was read from, not by a person reading it; one marked “one source” rests on that page alone. Anything else not marked checked has not been checked yet. Where nothing is known, the page says so rather than guess.