Pereskia aculeata

When young the plant is an erect woody shrub that becomes scrambling or climbing and vine-like, with branches up to 10 m long. The spines occur in groups and are long and slender, on the branches they are short and curved, usually occurring in pairs or threes in the leaf axils. The stem has a mucilaginous sap. The alternate, waxy leaves are elliptic, oblong or ovate (3.2–10 cm long) and normally fleshy and succulent;if conditions are adverse they will become deciduous. The semi-transparent white, yellowish or pink-tinted flowers (2.5–4.5 cm across) have a sweet and pungent odour and are borne in terminal panicles. The calyx tube is prickly. The fruit is a round, oval or pyriform berry, lemon- or orange-yellow or reddish (1–2 cm wide), with a thin, smooth, leathery skin. The curling, leafy sepals of the calyx cover the fruit and fall when the fruit reaches maturity. Few spines are found on the fruit. When fully ripe, the white fruit pulp is juicy with a sub-acid to tart flavour and contains a few flat, thin, brown or black, shiny, soft seeds that are 4 mm long (Janick and Paull, 2008).