Pereskia grandifolia

I was surprised when I passed by the shrubby Pereskia bleo again. I saw a flower, but eh, its not the typical rosy red flower that I saw some time back! More on Pereskia bleo

It has purple pink petals, yellow stamens (male parts) and white pistils (female parts). Totally different from the flower I saw previously. I had thought at first that this plant is monoeious (separate male and female flowers on a same plant) but it cant be since both reproductive organs are on a single flower. And won't be economical to produce 2 different flowers serving the same purpose I guess.

A search in the net shows that this flower belongs to another closely related cacti, Pereskia grandifolia (hope I din mis-ID). Looking more closely, its leaves do look different from Pereskia bleo, being more smooth and less wrinkled. Think my neighbor planted multiple mixture of seedlings causing them to grow so close together that I can't differentiate.

Pereskia grandifolia (also known as Rose Cactus) has similar medicinal properties as Pereskia bleo. This genus is widely known scientifically as being the primitive cacti genus that has not evolve to grow in arid conditions. This is seen by their persistant leaves and non-succulent, woody stems.