Overview
Hylocereus guatemalensis, cv. American Beauty
Other names: Bien Hoa Red, Quang Ong Self Fertile
Pollination: self-fertile
American Beauty is one of the most sought-after dragon fruit varieties due to its stunning appearance, self-fertility, and great taste. The plant has much skinnier branches than most varieties, with thorns that don’t match up on adjacent ribs. This makes the plant look quite unique, if a little spindly. Despite its skinny branches, American Beauty still produces fruit of a reasonable size on its own pollen, unlike Sugar Dragon and Malaysian Purple which have far thicker branches. I find this quite interesting as it seems counter-intuitive. Nevertheless, they are all great varieties to have in your garden, and American Beauty especially is one of the most visually appealing.
Buds
This variety is one of the first to bud, alongside the setaceus varieties (e.g., Sugar Dragon, Malaysian Purple, and Pink Panther). This makes it a great choice if you are looking to extend your fruiting season. Buds start as pointy globules which quickly become a lime green with a faint red rim. Buds take a very typical time of around three weeks to mature and open.
Flowers
American Beauty has a slightly different looking flower to most varieties. It is a little smaller than average and does not open as fully as most other varieties. Also, the stigmatic lobes (tentacle-like protrusions at the head of the stigma) are slightly smaller than average, and they also do not open as fully as you would expect. However, none of these characteristics hinder pollination assuming you have hand-pollinated correctly, or maybe even without.
Fruit
American Beauty produces nice, round fruit of a moderate size. Fruit development is perhaps a little slower than average, though not outrageously so by any stretch. I have only tasted several fruits so far, and I was a little underwhelmed by the flavour and texture. However, it was quite difficult to tell when they were ripe as the colour did not change past a dull red, and I believe the main reason for my disappointment was picking them too late. Next time I will pick the fruits a little earlier and hopefully they will live up to the hype.
