Fragrant Prickly-apple / Center For Plant Conservation
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Plant Profile

Fragrant Prickly-apple (Harrisia fragrans)

This plant is a columnar cactus, showing the beginnings of a flower that will eventually reach 10 cm long and bloom at night. Photo Credit: Meghan Fellows
  • Global Rank: G1 - Critically Imperiled
  • Legal Status: Federally Endangered
  • Family: Cactaceae
  • State: FL
  • Nature Serve ID: 140375
  • Lifeform: Shrub
  • Categories of Interest: Cacti/Succulents
  • Date Inducted in National Collection:
Description:

Harrisia fragrans is a columnar cactus endemic to south Florida. It may reach 3-5 m tall (reports vary), though it frequently has a sprawling, more horizontal growth form (Britton and Rose 1920, Benson 1982, USFWS 1988). The fragrant, showy, pink to white flowers reach 10 cm long and bloom nocturnally (Rae 1995). Fruits are orange-red and reach 5 cm in diameter.

Where is Fragrant Prickly-apple (Harrisia fragrans) located in the wild?

Habitat:

Harrisia fragrans can be found growing on dry sandy soil of coastal berms and early successional sand pine scrub (USFWS 1999, Coile 2000) and also on rockland hammock sites (IRC, personal communication). This species prefers partial shade (Rae 1994).

Distribution:

In 1984, only one remaining population of this species was known from a short strip of land in St. Lucie county, Florida, with a second population having recently been extirpated from Malabar (Brevard

States & Provinces:

Fragrant Prickly-apple can be found in Florida

Which CPC Partners conserve Fragrant Prickly-apple (Harrisia fragrans)?

  • Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden

    Sponsored
    Sponsors Add

    Silver Sponsor

    Jupiter Island Garden Club

    Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

    Conservation Actions
    Assigned 06/09/17

  • Bok Tower Gardens

    Not Sponsored
    Conservation Actions
    Assigned 06/09/17

  • Desert Botanical Garden

    Not Sponsored
    Assigned 06/09/17

  • Marie Selby Botanical Gardens

    Not Sponsored
    Conservation Actions
    Assigned 03/13/19

  • The Huntington

    Not Sponsored
    Assigned 10/30/23
    • CPC's Plant Sponsorship Program provides long term stewardship of rare plants in our National Collection. We are so grateful for all our donors who have made the Plant Sponsorship Program so successful. We are in the process of acknowledging all our wonderful plant sponsorship donors on our website. This is a work in progress and will be updated regularly.

    Conservation Actions

    Tina Stanley
    • 05/11/2023
      • Orthodox Seed Banking

    According to a March 2023 extract of the Florida Plant Rescue Database, Bok Tower Gardens holds 3 accessions of Harissia fragrans totalling approximately 19858 seeds.

    Tina Stanley
    • 05/11/2023
      • Orthodox Seed Banking

    According to a March 2023 extract of the Florida Plant Rescue Database, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden holds 5 accessions of Harrisia fragrans totalling approximately 3080 seeds representing 4 maternal lines.

    Tina Stanley
    • 05/11/2023
      • Orthodox Seed Banking

    According to a March 2023 extract of the Florida Plant Rescue Database, Marie Selby Botanical Gardens holds 1 accessions of Harrisia fragrans totalling approximately 7500 seeds.

    • 09/15/2020
      • Orthodox Seed Banking

    Fairchild Tropical Garden has some propagules, but would need to increase inventory if plans for establishing new populations are to be realized.

    • 09/15/2020
      • Seed Collection

    Fairchild Tropical Garden has some propagules, but would need to increase inventory if plans for establishing new populations are to be realized.

    • 09/15/2020
      • Demographic Research

    Work by Rae in the 1980's and 1990's have revealed several population and life history traits: long-term demographic studies 1994a) showed a 41% decline in number of individuals, as well as a general failure to recruit. Additional surveys between 1993 and 1996 showed another 40% decline. Reasons for this decrease in fitness are unknown, but may stem from vegetational changes and increasing canopy cover (USFWS 1999).

    • 09/15/2020
      • Demographic Research

    Miami's Institute for Regional Conservation (IRC) is currently conducting monitoring and research on this species.

    Nature Serve Biotics
    • 05/02/2017

    This species' habitat has been almost completely eliminated by development. The plants are also subject to horticultural collection. Only six occurrences, all in St. Lucie County, Florida, are currently reported in the Florida Natural Areas Inventory's database.

    Jennifer Possley
    • 01/01/2010

    Threats include habitat loss and resulting fragmentation, stochastic events, herbicide in St. Lucie County, off road vehicle recreation (USFWS 1988, 1999), canopy closure, which may lead to reproductive failure (Rae 1995), and possibly poaching.

    Jennifer Possley
    • 01/01/2010

    In 1999, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reported that approximately 320 individuals exist in 11 small, disjunct sites in eastern St. Lucie County (these 11 sites were described as 3 sites, prior to habitat fragmentation). The number of individuals in Monroe county is unknown.

    Jennifer Possley
    • 01/01/2010

    Miami's Institute for Regional Conservation (IRC) is currently conducting monitoring and research on this species. Work by Rae in the 1980's and 1990's have revealed several population and life history traits: long-term demographic studies 1994a) showed a 41% decline in number of individuals, as well as a general failure to recruit. Additional surveys between 1993 and 1996 showed another 40% decline. Reasons for this decrease in fitness are unknown, but may stem from vegetational changes and increasing canopy cover (USFWS 1999).

    Jennifer Possley
    • 01/01/2010

    Responsible agencies in Palm Beach County are private landowners, Savannas State Reserve and Walton Scrub Reserve. The extent of monitoring and management by park staff is unknown. Responsible agencies in Monroe County are unknown.

    Jennifer Possley
    • 01/01/2010

    Management needs include: habitat protection, a population inventory, continued and regular population monitoring regime (Rae 1994 b, Bradley et al. 2000) Implementation for habitat requirements, such as partial shade preference and communication by land managers in the two disjunct locales.

    Jennifer Possley
    • 01/01/2010

    Fairchild Tropical Garden has some propagules, but would need to increase inventory if plans for establishing new populations are to be realized.

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    Nomenclature
    Taxon Harrisia fragrans
    Authority Small ex Britton & Rose
    Family Cactaceae
    CPC Number 873
    ITIS 195401
    USDA HAFR3
    Duration Perennial
    Common Names fragrant prickly-apple cactus | fragrant wooly cactus | Caribbean applecactus | fragrant prickly-apple
    Associated Scientific Names Harrisia fragrans | Cereus eriophorus var. fragrans | Harrisia eriophora
    Distribution In 1984, only one remaining population of this species was known from a short strip of land in St. Lucie county, Florida, with a second population having recently been extirpated from Malabar (Brevard
    State Rank
    State State Rank
    Florida S1
    Ecological Relationships

    Photos

    This plant is a columnar cactus, showing the beginnings of a flower that will eventually reach 10 cm long and bloom at night. Photo Credit: Meghan Fellows

    Photo Credit: Meghan Fellows

    Photo Credit: Keith Bradley

    Night-blooming flower of Harrisia fragrans, sister taxa to Harrisia aboriginum and also endemic to Florida. I spent 2 hours after hours at Selby Gardens between 10pm and midnight photographing this remarkable bloom. 

    Photo Credit: Shawn McCourt

    Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden maintains an ex situ collection of the globally critically imperiled Harrisia fragrans (fragrant prickly-apple cactus) from across its range on Florida's east coast. The first flowers on our Ft. Pierce population opened after dark last summer in 2022.

    Photo Credit: Brian Harding

    Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden maintains an ex situ collection of the globally critically imperiled Harrisia fragrans (fragrant prickly-apple cactus) from across its range on Florida's east coast. The first flowers on our Ft. Pierce population opened after dark last summer in 2022.

    Photo Credit: Brian Harding

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