Search / Plant Profile / Harrisia simpsonii

Plant Profile

Simpson's Prickly-apple (Harrisia simpsonii)

Global Rank: G2 - Imperiled
Legal Status: N/A
Family: Cactaceae
State: FL
Nature Serve ID: 161545
Lifeform: Shrub
Categories of Interest: Cacti/Succulents
Date Inducted in National Collection: 03/02/2023

Description:

Where is Simpson's Prickly-apple (Harrisia simpsonii) located in the wild?

States & Provinces:

Simpson's Prickly-apple can be found in Florida

Which CPC Partners conserve Simpson's Prickly-apple (Harrisia simpsonii)?

Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden

Not Sponsored

Conservation Actions

Assigned 03/02/23

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

Nicholas Matsumoto

11/13/2024

South Florida is host to several rare cactus species, among them is Simpson’s Prickly apple. Conservation team members from Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden went to Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammock Botanical State Park to find fruits. With help from the park staff, we made a scouting trip in early summer to identify and map flowering plants. Plants occur close to the coast in more open areas at the transition from mangrove to the denser coastal hammock. In fall we returned to collect the now developed fruits. To leave seeds behind from each of the maternal lines we split fruit in half when only a single fruit was available leaving the remainder behind to disperse naturally. In total we collected fruits from 2 maternal lines.

Tina Stanley

05/11/2023

According to a March 2023 extract of the Florida Plant Rescue Database, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden holds 4 accessions of Harrisia simpsonii totalling approximately 2138 seeds representing 4 maternal lines.