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Harrisia fragrans; photograph (c) Ryan Watson, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Ryan Watson, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2024-07-22

Harrisia fragrans Small ex Britton & Rose

Caribbean apple cactus; Fragrant Prickly-apple; Simpson's apple cactus; Simpson's prickly-apple

Cactaceae · Florida · listed by its family as a cactus or succulent

Cited as Kew's World Checklist cites it, Harrisia fragrans Small ex Britton & Rose: GBIF's backbone key for this page carries the name with another author, Small.

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Harrisia fragrans, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedHarrisia fragrans, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedHarrisia fragrans, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedHarrisia fragrans, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedHarrisia fragrans, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedHarrisia fragrans, photograph author not stated, no rights reserved 24 photographs ›
Habitat figuresfrom few records
Coldest month, mean nightly low
18.8°C
Jan at the habitat, not a floor; extremes not used (sea cell) CHELSA
Warmest month, mean daily high
29°C
Jun, Jul, Aug and Sep at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,386mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
22–43DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet summers: the rain comes May to October, read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

From few records: 4 records in 4 grid cells. The records.

Summary

Harrisia fragrans is a rare species of cactus known by the common name fragrant prickly apple. It is endemic to Florida, where it is known only from St. Lucie County. The plant's habitat has been almost completely consumed by development, leading to its rarity. It is a federally listed endangered species of the United States.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Harrisia fragrans", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Grouped as a cactus or succulent, listed under the family Cactaceae in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “scrambling succulent”.

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,019 mm of 1,381 mm) falls in May to October, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 27.0 °C against a yearly mean of 24.6 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: November to April.

Rain

1,381 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,019 mm of it May to October. Wettest month September at 225 mm, driest month January at 50 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,246 mm to 1,486 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,386 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,381 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 22 to 43 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 21, the highest 90th-percentile month 43).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 18.8 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 18.6 °C to 19.2 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 29.3 °C in August (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: none read. The nearest figure is 18.8 °C, the coldest month's mean nightly low, January, in the median year (CHELSA); a month's mean of its nightly lows is warmer than the nights a floor is read from. The daily extremes were read at a weather cell that is mostly sea and are not used.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 59 to 63% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. No cold floor is read without a daily extremes series; the coldest month's mean nightly low named in its sentence is not one. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Group. Listed under the family Cactaceae in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “scrambling succulent”. A group is taken only where Kew's description of the species agrees with the table's listing. The table gives no figure and no prose; the cold floor is the habitat's alone.

Climate across the habitat

From few records: this habitat climate is read from 4 records in 4 grid cells; a page says so under 12 records or 5 cells, and shows the figures as read.

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Harrisia fragrans through the yearWarmest months June, July, August and September, mean daily high 29 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 18.8 °C; 1,381 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.15°20°25°30°35°°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250mm rainDLI 22–43RH 59–63%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 4 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C23 / 22–2323 / 23–2424 / 24–2425 / 25–2627 / 27–2729 / 28–2929 / 29–2929 / 29–2929 / 29–2927 / 27–2825 / 25–2624 / 24–24
Night °C19 / 19–1919 / 19–2020 / 20–2122 / 22–2224 / 24–2426 / 25–2627 / 26–2727 / 26–2726 / 26–2624 / 24–2522 / 22–2320 / 20–21
Rain mm50 / 48–5255 / 49–6665 / 59–7263 / 52–71114 / 96–126204 / 182–223134 / 127–153200 / 194–212225 / 199–245142 / 122–15078 / 66–7951 / 43–53
DLI25 / 24–2529 / 28–3036 / 34–3642 / 40–4243 / 42–4340 / 39–4141 / 41–4239 / 38–3934 / 33–3430 / 29–3025 / 24–2522 / 21–23
RH %59 / 58–6060 / 59–6159 / 59–6059 / 58–6061 / 60–6163 / 63–6462 / 62–6362 / 62–636361 / 61–6260 / 59–6159 / 59–60

The daily extremes were read at a NASA POWER cell that is 16% land: neither it nor the next candidates whose coldest month's mean nightly low is within 2 °C of the median across cells sit in a POWER cell that is mostly land, and the rule reads a cold floor only from a cell that is mostly land, so none is read for this species. Nor is the coldest month's mean nightly low taken as one: it is a mean of a month's lows, not its coldest night. What that cell gave over 44 years: absolute minimum 6.5 °C, 1st-percentile night 14.2 °C, 99th-percentile day 31.2 °C.

How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 4 grid cells holding the 4 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1297:1981 (25.125, -80.925). Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 4 distinct grid cells holding 4 of the 4 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1297:1981 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells, though its NASA POWER cell is only 16% land and none of the 3 next candidates within 2 °C of the median was mostly land); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 25.00_-80.625, lapse-corrected -1 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 0 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeFlorida · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker25.16, -80.829 · in the densest population, 65 records (74% of those in range)
Kew's description“scrambling succulent” · “subtropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 88 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 4 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 18 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 41 km away. Under a dozen records behind the climate. 84 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 88 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Harrisia fragrans, photograph 1did not loadHarrisia fragrans, photograph 2did not loadHarrisia fragrans, photograph 3did not loadHarrisia fragrans, photograph 4did not loadHarrisia fragrans, photograph 5did not loadHarrisia fragrans, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0 (6).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Metopium toxiferum Metopium toxiferum Florida poisontree Photo: CC BY, Tom FieldFimbristylis cymosa Fimbristylis cymosa Tropical fimbry Photo: CC BY, Neal KelsoGuapira discolor Guapira discolor Beeftree Photo: CC BY, Josiah LonderéeMosiera longipes Mosiera longipes Mangrove Berry Photo: CC BY, Josiah LonderéeJuniperus barbadensis Juniperus barbadensis West Indies Juniper Photo: CC BY, J. L. Gómez-HechavarríaSesuvium portulacastrum Sesuvium portulacastrum Sea purslane Photo: CC BY, yatesy

Other Harrisia 13 in the reference

Harrisia aboriginum Harrisia aboriginum Cactaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedHarrisia adscendens Harrisia adscendens Cactaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedHarrisia bonplandii Harrisia bonplandii Giant Red Dragon Apple Cactus Photo: CC BY, Barry StewartHarrisia brookii Harrisia brookii Brook's dildo Photo: CC BY-SA, Stephanie DolrenryHarrisia caymanensis Harrisia caymanensis Cactaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedHarrisia divaricata Harrisia divaricata Cactaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedHarrisia eriophora Harrisia eriophora Fragrant prickly-apple Photo: CC BY, Yoannis DomínguezHarrisia gracilis Harrisia gracilis Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, Joshua HallHarrisia martinii Harrisia martinii Moon cactus Photo: CC BY-SA, Ruth PalssonHarrisia pomanensis Harrisia pomanensis Midnight-lady Photo: CC BY, Pablo H CapovillaHarrisia regelii Harrisia regelii Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, Tomás TamagnoHarrisia tetracantha Harrisia tetracantha Cactaceae Photo: CC0, author not stated all 14 ›

Names & registers

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Cactaceae
Described by
Small ex Britton & Rose
Native to
Florida
Wild records
88 in range · 18 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22GBIF's key 5384192 is Harrisia fragrans Small; the page links Kew's Harrisia fragrans Small ex Britton & Rose, and the name is cited as Kew cites it
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 2 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (2 at a botanic garden or arboretum; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 25.00_-80.625, lapse-corrected -1 m at 6.5 °C/km; read, and set aside: NASA POWER's cell is mostly sea (16% land), so no cold floor is shown
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22IPNI and POWO linked by Kew's number for Harrisia fragrans Small ex Britton & Rose (the item's: IPNI 118760-2, POWO 117995-2)
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22none of the photographs on this page is credited to GBIF: those shown are other sources', and GBIF's were the same photographs or were set aside by the photograph rules
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 4 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

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