Arizona Purple is a hybrid Dragon Fruit variety from Selenicereus Guatemalensis and another Selenicereus Setaceus. This Dragon Fruit variety is a clone created by Paul Thomson called 8-S initially, and it was a cross using the Houghton and Rixford variety. The 8-S seedlings were later renamed Voodoo Child by a nursery in Florida. Then a few years after that, 8-S was renamed by a grower in California Sugar Dragon. Arizona Purple, Voodoo Child and Sugar Dragon resemble one another and are very similar to their parent, Houghton.
Growth
The growth of this variety is a robust grower with meaty stems that are olive green. Thick small spines occur along the rib line of each branch and can extend over five feet. Stems resemble Selenicereus Setaceus in size and shape.
This variety is known to be both one of the earliest and one of the latest to bud, with the potential for new season’s buds with last season’s fruits. The buds begin as small “bulbs” with a distinct reddish tinge, before revealing bright green sepals rimmed with the reddish colour. Progress is slower than typical white and red varieties, but faster than megalanthus varieties.
Arizona Purple produces large, brilliant white flowers with a yellow to orange tinge on the surrounding sepals. They are strongly scented and produce multitudes of pollen that can be used to cross pollinate most other varieties, to the point where some call it the “universal pollinator”. Some farmers put this to use by planting Sugar Dragon at regular intervals between their other dragon fruit plants, allowing the natural pollinators to do all the work. One thing to note is that the stigma protrudes well away from the anthers, so hand pollination is recommended.
Fruit
The fruits of Arizona Purple are very small, often under 0.5 Lb. They take longer than a typical red or white variety to ripen, though far less than megalanthus varieties. Once they change colour, they quickly become loose; a sign they are ready to eat. The flavour is strongly that of berries, with a high sugar and water content. Many consider this to be one of the best tasting dragon fruits
