are all? cactus fruit edible

[oneday]

Just want to say - don’t try to eat a cactus fruit because you think all fleshy cactus fruit are technically edible, I’m not sure if that’s true. Both me and my spouse tried a very small part of a Rhodocactus grandifolius fruit and both got a very uncomfortable tightening of the throat and nausea just from a tiny piece. I’m guessing it could cause a medical emergency if more was eaten by making it difficult to breathe.

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[ossy96]

Interesting.. Did you harvested it from your own plant?

[Nino_G]

Llifle online Encyclopedia says following:

"Fruit: 4-10 cm long, red, green or (usually) yellow coloured pear-shaped and more or less triangular. This fruit is a curious proliferating structure, bearing 3-4 cm long leaves, which ultimately fall away, looking more part of the stems than actual fruits. Several may seeded fruit are attached at a single peduncle. It smells good and is considered by some edible only at full ripening (otherwise it is very astringent)."

Maybe the fruit you tasted wasn't ripe yet?

[oneday]

Ossy96, yes it was from a plant in my yard.

Nino_G, thanks for that, I couldn’t find any mention of the edibility beforehand. It’s possible it wasn’t ripe, it did fall off the plant naturally before I tried eating it, not sure if some plants fruits don’t get ripe until after they fall off. I doubt I will risk trying to eat it again though.

[DaveW]

I would not advise eating fruits from plants in your collection if you use systemic insecticides and also contact ones if they get sprayed on the fruits.

The type of fruit tends to depend on how its seeds are spread. If through birds etc that eat them they tend to be fleshy, whereas if seed are spread by ants or other means they are often more dry and papery when ripe.

Far more cacti contains psychoactive chemicals than people realise, including many of the grafting stocks we use. Plants get banned if people misuse them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychoactive_cactus

Hallucinogens are far more common in plants than people think.

https://botanicalshaman.com/2018/05/09/ ... ucinogens/

Luckily Britain has a sensible approach regarding Lophophora etc, as long as you don't chew it you can grow it since we have no traditional use for them since cacti were never native. Also we can grow opium poppies as ornamentals provided we do not misuse them. However some say in our climate not much opium would be produced anyway. Cannabis is banned though and I would sooner have that banned than Lophophora's for genuine cactus collectors. I remember a fad decades ago when the kids were chewing Morning Glory seeds for a supposed high, but now most drug use is synthetics rather than chewing plants.

[C And D]

Cactus fruit taste panel

We put out 5 different Cactus fruits for a taste test

1. Dragon fruit
2. Epiphyllum
3. Selenicereus pteranthus
4. Rhipsalis (Lepismium) cruciforme
5. Rhipsalis ewaldiana

The 2 Rhipsalis taste the same, like unsweetened grapes

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Not sure if this really R. ewaldiana, any one know

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The Selenicereus pteranthus fruit is spiny

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I have several Epiphyllum fruit

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Cut open, Dragon on the right

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Scooped out taste test
They all taste the same, kind of like water with seeds, not that great in general, sure wouldn't pay for them to eat
Maybe they do something to the Dragon fruit to ferment it alittle for better taste, not sure

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[Aiko]

Don't eat Cyphostemma fruit...!