Description

Townsend Pink

Townsend Pink Dragon Fruit variety is a Hylocereus genus with an unknown species. This variety has traits of undatus and guatemalensis, but this is just from our experience growing this variety. Townsend Pink gets its name from its founder. The story goes; a nursery was getting rid of the plant when the founder took the plant then named it after themself.

Growth

Growth of Townsend Pink is typical of undatus growth in size. The stem’s color is green, but it turns a nice lemon-lime color with minimal burn with the full sun. The stems are segmented and three-sided with small thorns. Flowers are also typical to undatus and are self-fertile. The flowers have also been self-pollinating for us, making this variety worthy of commercial value. Additional tests will be performed in the future to confirm its self-pollinating properties. Spicy Exotics collected this variety from a tropical grower in California.

Flower

The flower is a medium to large-sized bloom resembling undatus flowers. The flower bud also resembles the undatus varieties, taking 28 days from bud to flower. At 10 PM, the flower is fully opened in Louisiana, and we found a generous amount of pollen to pollinate itself and several other varieties. All flowers we used to pollinate with Townsend Pink pollen set fruit.

Fruit

The fruits weighed in about one pound with red skin and green fins. From flower to fruit took 30 days. The flesh color is a pure pink color throughout, making it one of the few pink flesh varieties available. The first fruit we tested had a brix of 17.8 with a good flavor. The fruit had a grape-type flavor, juicy, with nice firm flesh. In summary, this variety checks off a lot of the properties collectors are looking for. If you’re looking to grow one variety or add to your collection, Townsend Pink should be on your list.