dragon fruit

One more card for today... This one is from a swap with Helen in the USA (thank you!).



Dragon fruit (or 'pitaya') is the fruit of several cactus species, most importantly of the genus Hylocereus (sweet pitayas). They are native to Mexico and Central and South America, but are also cultivated in Asian countries such as Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Malaysia. They are also found in Okinawa, Hawaii, Israel, northern Australia and southern China. Until seeing this postcard, I hadn't even realised there was more than one variety of this fruit. I got to taste one not long ago, but it had white flesh, so I was a little confused when I saw this card. It turned out there are three varieties: red pitaya (the one I had, and apparently the most common variety); Costa Rica pitaya (the one on this card); and yellow pitaya (yellow-skinned fruit with white flesh).

I also found this postcard interesting as it's from Fruit & Spice Park. The Fruit & Spice Park is the only tropical botanical garden of its kind in the United States, located in South Florida. The Park's tropical climate can be found nowhere else in the continental U.S. and hosts over 500 varieties of fruits, vegetables, spices, herbs, and nuts, and other commercially important plant specimens from around the world. The Park showcases 150 varieties of mango, 75 varieties of bananas, 70 bamboo varieties, and numerous other exotic edibles. That sounds pretty amazing, wouldn't it be great to visit it one day?!



The Simpsons stamps are from a set of 5 great stamps, issued in 2009. The smaller stamp is a definitive stamp from the American design series, issued in 2003. This one shows American Clock.