UC ANR is committed to providing an accessible and inclusive web experience for all users. If you encounter an accessibility barrier on this or need content in an alternative or remediated accessible format, please contact anraccessibility@ucanr.edu.

San Diego County Small Farms

H. guatemalensis (Bien Hoa Red)

Scientific Name:
H. guatemalensis

Common Name:
Bien Hoa Red

Plant Description

Very flavorful fruit with fuchsia colored flesh and reddish green skin.
Origin: Guatemala
Fruit: round; medium, 360 g; ideal for market, skin greenish-red; flesh fuchsia colored, pulp very juicy, lacks firmness; rind thin, with scattered compact bracts; quality exceptional; 18.9 Brix; 43 days from bloom to harvest in Southern California; harvest June to November.
Plant: stems triangular, with 3 well-defined ridges, relatively thin and short, mature stems dark green and brittle, producing numerous shoots; pruning essential; areoles have 1-2 spines on average, 1-5 mm long; segment between areoles quite convex, 36.45 mm long; flowers small, petals white, calyx yellowish green, anthers and stigma lobes yellow.
Tolerance to cold and hot weather average; struggles in full sun; lack of cold hardiness limits commercial potential or requires protected environments.