The dragon fruit origin

The dragon fruit (also known as pitahaya and pitaya roja) is such a unique fruit and is getting more popular every day. In this article we will dive deeper into the dragon fruit origin and we will take a look at the history of the dragon fruit plant.

Dragon fruit origin country

The exact origin country of a plant is always quite hard to trace, but researchers can take a look at fossils that pop up around the world and make a calculated assumption.

Now the question is “Where is the dragon fruit from?”. The dragon fruit plant is most likely native to southern Mexico, south and central America. In today’s day and age the plant is grown all around the world.

We actually don’t know for how long the dragon fruit has been around, but we do know that the cactus plant was introduced to Europe in the 16th century and introduced to Asia in the early 1800s.

Dragon fruit name origin

The scientific name came from the Greek word “hyle (woody)” and the latin words “cereus (waxen)” and “undatus”, which refers to the wavy edges of its stems. In Mexico the dragon fruit is known as “pitahaya” and in America they call it “pitaya roja”. These names may also refer to more species of tall cacti with flowers and fruits.

They came up with the name dragon fruit because of its unique appearance. The spikes on a dragon fruit resemble fire and its scales resemble the skin of a dragon as illustrated in Chinese mythology. This is why lots of people think that the dragon fruit has a Chinese origin, but this is not the case.

Dragon fruits are also marketed with old legends and fables. They used to say that a dragon fruit is the last thing to come out a fire breathing dragon’s mouth after it is slayed and that the warriors would gather these fruits to present them to their emperor. Isn’t that a nice story to tell when you show your own dragon fruit plant to someone? (;