REPRODUCTIVE PHENOLOGY OF STENOCEREUS-GUMMOSUS (ENGELM) GIBSON AND HORAK - IMPLICATIONS FOR ITS CULTIVATION

Stenocereus gummosus (''pitaya agria'', Cactaceae) is a wild native sp ecies of the Baja California Peninsula, Mexico. The fruit of these pla nts is harvested by ranchers for public consumption. There has been no attempt to cultivate this species or to enhance fruit production by s electing highly productive lines with desirable characteristics. Never theless, it is relatively easy to propagate asexually. Seed propagatio n is not practical in spite of its regular flower, fruit, and viable s eed generation. Here, the ''pitaya agria'' was studied over 4 years (1 988-1991) to generate basic information that may be useful for its ind uction to cultivation. A sample of plants was monitored during phenolo gical events of budding, flowering, fruiting, and abortion. Among the results, we found that a third of the original buds developed into fru it, and the first 40 cm of the branches yielded more buds where the co nversion into fruit was higher than in the rest of the branch. A stati stical analysis revealed slight differences in the phenological events , despite dissimilar rainfall over the four years. In view of its succ essful asexual propagation, this species can be considered commerciall y promising.